FULTON – Along with unanimously voting on all resolutions, the Fulton Common Council elected its new president for 2021 at the year’s first meeting last night, January 5.
Audrey Avery, 5th Ward Councilor, will replace 6th Ward Councilor Larry Macner as Council President this year. This will be Avery’s second year as a common councilor for the City of Fulton.
“I’m very honored and humbled to have been elected as Council President,” Avery said. “I hope and pray that our next year is better than our last… I look forward to another year serving my community.”
During the polling of the councilors, outgoing President Macner congratulated Avery and discussed the 30 year anniversary of Operation Desert Storm and his experience.
The other four councilors echoed Macner’s congratulations to Avery and thanked him for his service while wishing the public a Happy New Year and look forward to improvements to come in 2021.
Reflecting on 2020 and her first year as the city’s mayor, Deana Michaels said while 2020 had its obvious challenges, there were successes as well.
“We’ve seen new leadership across the board; we’ve gone through quite a bit of changes,” Michaels said. “With change, nothing’s easy… I think it’s important that we understand that it is 2020, now 2021 and it’s important that we get with the times. Things that work, we want to continue to do those but we want to make them relevant to 2021. Things that didn’t work, we want to improve those.”
While the pandemic posed a roadblock to all the change she wished could have happened this year, the city adjusted the best they could with what Michaels described as antiquated technology. The council, with three newly elected members for 2020, was able to learn and she expects to see more legislation in 2021 after the adjustment period.
“It’s so important we continue to be proactive,” Michaels said in regards to the pandemic. “Fulton has done a great job. We held off for a long time before it hit our area… COVID is everywhere and it has not spared us. We need to be proactive. We need to do what we are doing sitting here – social distancing, we’re wearing our masks, and we need to encourage that to our family members, our friends… We need to comply.”
She thanked Assemblyman Will Barclay and State Senator Patty Ritchie for their involvement in helping a business communicate with the State Department of Transportation to allow access on Route 481, which will then allow that business (which Michaels did not name) to expand in the city.
“What that means for us, is that the sale of that property is going to go through and the expansion of that business is going to go through, and we are going to see some exciting growth at the north entrance to the city, and we couldn’t be more excited about that,” Michaels said.
Other resolutions passed during last night’s meeting:
- Valley News was designated the city’s official print newspaper for 2021.
- December 15, 2020 minutes were approved.
- The City Clerk’s report for December in the amount of $4,389.75 was approved and placed on file.
- The City Clerk was approved to adjust various expenditure accounts to end the 2020 fiscal year.
- The City Clerk was approved to increase the city’s estimated revenues in the amount of any insurance recovery money received and to simultaneously increase the appropriation in the specific budget for which the insurance money was received.
- The Records Management Officer was authorized to destroy records that no longer serve a purpose.
- Mayor Deana Michaels was authorized to sign a lease agreement between the city and Jeffrey Mason for him to rent residential property on the grounds of the Municipal Waterworks at 962 S. 1st St. from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022.
- The Utility Billing Supervisor was authorized from time to time to purchase postage for billing purposes throughout 2021.
The full agenda for last night’s meeting can be found here.
Scheduled Common Council meetings are held the first Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Municipal Building.
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