Local & State Headlines

City delays decision on signs

• The Albany City Commission votes to make changes in its employee insurance plan.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — In putting off a planned vote on the city’s controversial new sign ordinance at its monthly business meeting Tuesday night, the Albany City Commission, if nothing else, proved that it is willing to listen to local business owners.

A succession of speakers from such businesses as All American Fun Park, D.J.’s Car Wash, Mr. Klean Kars, Dawson Road Jewelry & Pawn and a number of local churches complained to commissioners that allowing changes to multi-message signs larger than 8 square feet only once in a 24-hour period would negatively impact their businesses.

After hearing the speakers, the commission voted to table the matter, even after City Attorney Nathan Davis had suggested in a pre-meeting briefing that “tinkering with the ordinance now would not be in the city’s best interest.”

Also at the meeting, which was extended far past its usual time frame due to the lengthy discussion of the sign ordinance, the commission voted to rescind its proposal to leave the Public Employees Group Health Plan consortium it is currently a part of with Water, Gas & Light and Dougherty County employees and remain in the consortium with the provision that ShawHankins LLC of Cartersville be retained as the joint city/WG&L broker.

Under that proposal, the county would retain local insuror Doherty, Duggan & Rouse as its broker.

Commissioner Roger Marietta had proposed in the pre-briefing that the city grandfather in existing businesses with multi-message signs, but Davis pointed out that only 15 of the 40 businesses utilizing such signs had obtained permits for the signs.

“With all due respect, grandfathering in illegal signs would threaten the entire sign ordinance,” Davis said.

Marietta also suggested that the 8-square-foot measurement on signs that are allowed to change messages every minute was “restrictive and arbitrary.”

“I don’t believe it’s a distraction for (any) signs to change every minute,” Marietta said.

Commissioner Bob Langstaff told his fellow board members he planned to call for a tabling of the issue, saying “we’ve waited this long, I don’t see what it will hurt to wait a little longer.” The commission put the vote off until its next work session, scheduled for June 10.

Scott Hankins of ShawHankins told the commission if his group took over as broker of the city/WG&L portion of the local employees’ health plan, it would cut broker fees as well as negotiate to get the best deal for the city. Part of that negotiation would involve a proposal by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital to become the sole health-care provider for employees in the consortium.

Mayor Willie Adams asked if “the other health-care provider in town” (Palmyra Medical Centers) had had an opportunity to make such a proposal, noting, “I ask that because I know I’ll hear from them tomorrow.”

Hankins said the proposal by Phoebe offered discounts to the city as an incentive to procure exclusivity in treating local employees, but he said he could not endorse their proposal.

“We took all claims from 2007 and used Phoebe’s proposed discount to figure what the savings would have been,” Hankins said. “That worked out to $340,000, and while that seems like a big number, as a percentage of the whole it’s really not that big.

“I cannot endorse eliminating other providers for $340,000; exclusivity would need to come with significantly greater discounts. There are plenty of programs out there that give us room to negotiate.”

Asked if Palmyra could offer a proposal to counter Phoebe’s, Hankins said, “Phoebe’s not the only game in town, but I don’t know if Palmyra has the capacity to compete one-on-one.”

City Manager Alfred Lott said, “We didn’t come here to beat up on Phoebe.”

Hankins replied, “I don’t mean to do that, I’m just saying that their offer in savings is not worth exclusivity.”

“Point taken,” Lott said.

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