Two major issues, both concerning the Shackelford County Law Enforcement Center, were covered during Monday’s meeting of the county commissioners, with elected officials deciding on a change in how jailers and dispatchers are paid and also hearing a report about lightning damage to the LEC.

During the session, longtime county employee Jeannie Balliew was honored for her 21 years of service to the county by judge Bob Skelton.

Lightning Damage

A construction agreement for the new terminal building at the Albany airport was approved by Albany city council members at a regular meeting on Monday, May 13.

New council member Don Taggart was sworn in after the meeting, following the canvassing of the votes cast for the May 4 election. Incumbent Carolyn Waller also took the oath of office for another two-year term.

Airport Building

City manager Billy Holson and airport manager Chuck Sheppard presented an adjusted total for the new terminal building to be constructed at Hickman Field.

The 33nd annual Polo on the Prairie fundraiser benefitting cancer research and patient programs at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center will be held at the Musselman Brothers’ Lazy 3 Ranch on Saturday, May 18, and although the actual polo competition will not take place because of wet field conditions, the rest of the celebration will continue as planned.

The Albany City pool will open to the general public on Saturday, May 25 with a one-day-only, free-admittance, Splash Day. 

“We typically open the pool the first Saturday after school lets out,” said city park manager Brian Holson. “And we’ll have free admittance on opening day this year.”

Employees

Albany City pool managers this summer are Dakota Fowler, who worked in the same position last summer, and Albany resident Stacy Abbate, who is new to the position. 

Shackelford County 4-H member Johnnie Hise of Moran won first place in the Senior Division Fashion Show-Natural Fibers and second place in Senior Division Fashion Show Construction-Everyday Living at the District 7 4-H roundup in San Angelo last Friday, May 10, qualifying her to advance to the next level.

The Texas State 4-H roundup will be held at Texas A&M University in College Station on June 10-13.

The fashion show competition is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, June 11.

All Shackelford County senior adults (50 and up) are invited to attend the Shackelford County Resource Center’s April senior luncheon to be held on Friday, May 17 at the Albany Youth Center beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Members of the Albany Church of Christ are hosting this month.

“The theme is ‘Carnival,’ and we will actually be having a carnival including game booths, cotton candy, popcorn, and prizes,” said program assistant Ragan Riley. 

The meal will be hamburgers, French fries, baked beans, and desserts. 

Practice for the 2019 Fandangle summer shows began Sunday, May 12 and will continue to take place at the Prairie Theater four or more nights a week until the first performance on Friday, June 21.

“With summer rehearsals kicked off this week, I want to encourage everyone to start coming right away,” said artistic director Lorna Ayers. “Singing spots and acting spots are cast during the first rehearsals, so don’t delay.”

The entire cast does not need to be present for every rehearsal, just those in the scenes scheduled for that time slot.

The city of Albany will receive a sales tax allotment of $46,577 from the state this May. The amount is up 6.60 percent from the $43,692 payment received in May of 2018.

Payments to date for the 2019 year to the city of Albany are $252,791, up by 14.45 percent from the comparable time last year, when payments of $220,869 had been made.

The city of Moran will receive a net payment of $1,669 this period for a 26.68 percent decrease from the $2,277 received in May 2018.

Three incumbents were returned to the Albany school board and city council at the end of Saturday’s local elections and will be joined by three newcomers.

Even with three contested races, well under 20 percent of the 1,706 registered voters in the city and 1,960 in the school district cast ballots, and more than half of those were during the early voting period.

All of the winning candidates will be sworn in during the entities’ next regular meetings in May.

Albany ISD Results

Albany junior Addison Asher medaled in two journalism events at the state UIL academic meet last Friday after qualifying for the state level in three events.

Asher brought home a silver medal for news writing, as well as a fourth place in feature writing. She also competed in headline writing. This was her first trip to the state meet.

“It was amazing that Addi qualified in three events, but to then medal was fantastic,” said journalism sponsor Donnie Lucas. “She worked hard preparing for state, and it paid off.”