Aldermen hear updates on ice storm damages, recovery, clean-up issues (February 3, 2026) -

Seated left to right:

Parks Smith – Ward 1
Drew Horn – Ward 2
Keith Conlee – Alderman at Large
Will Tucker – Ward 4
Jeff Olson – Mayor
Megan Kirk – City Clerk
Regan Russell – City Attorney

Αn agenda and a link to a 35-minute video of the meeting can be found at the bottom courtesy of Kenny Stancil and Visit New Albany on YouTube.

The City of New Albany Board of Aldermen met on February 3, 2026, for its regular monthly meeting. Self-described “rookie” mayor Jeff Olsen set the tone of the meeting even before the opening prayer.

“Guys, ladies, Chief, the Board, fire chief, Terry Young, Eric, Chase, the guys, Billye Jean for doing nice little packages for the linemen. I’m overwhelmed and I know I’m leaving people out, even the crew down stairs, Ragan, when I need them….Curt Clayton has been wonderful with the County, the Supervisors have been wonderful. Keith’s been getting up early in the morning delivering biscuits to the linemen. Bill’s going to give us some totals… It’s been 11 days and I know some people are getting frustrated. ….and they’re now at the hard spots and the singles-trying to try to get them done.”

Community Development

Billye Jean Stroud said she has mailed her report and attached the impact study MSU did with Riverfest – good information to know.

Union County Museum

Jill Smith reported that she had mailed her report and that the Museum had opened on Tuesday Feb 3rd to help people warm up, charge devices. “The Museum suffered a little damage, but not much, considering. I just want to say thank you to everybody. I’m grateful for all that everybody did.”

Police Department:

Chief Chris Robertson reported that his building had some leakage, probably due to ice, and possibly a little on the LG&W side. He contacted (Will Benton?). Some will be there Friday to look at it.

Parks & Recreation

Chase Jeter said they had a little damage around the concession stand and the Little League foul ball net will have to be replaced. Other nets froze but were not actually damaged. A cable that held up the nets broke and will have to be replaced, possibly about $8500. Quotes are being taken for this job, which may take 3-4 weeks.

Mayor Olson commended Chase and his men for quickly volunteering their services, and for delivering lunches. He also thanked Chris Elliot and his crew for their services above and beyond. “It is nice for a rookie Mayor to have veteran leadership that you can depend on to take care of business,” he said.

Building inspection/Zoning administration: Eric Thomas said about 95 services that have been put back up so far. Some City Hall roof leaks have not yet been looked at.

New Albany Light Gas & Water

Bill Mattox reported that some crews were still out working tonight for at least two more hours.

“We have about 11,300 customers and by daybreak Sunday Morning (Jan. 24) 11,200 of them were off. As of last night (Feb 1) we still had 2000 off. So far today, we’ve got about 500 more on. So about 1400-1450 still off, about 300 of those in the city. The rest are all scattered around, but they are from Potts Cams to Sherman and up to Blue Mountain.

‘We’re taking a circuit at a time -they have about 200 on each one. We have 22 circuits with about 3-4 of those cleared, which changes moment to moment. We have some crews working the circuit and some in the substation. We’re trying to get all the single phase primary lines up by Friday (Feb 13). But I’m not promising that. Then we will still have a lot of these services like Eric is talking about to put up.

“They said 1994 was a once in a lifetime event. They lied! But surely this won’t be more that a twice in your lifetime event and we won’t have to deal with this again.”

Bill then thanked everyone (NAFD, NAPD Parks, Eric, George, etc.) for the help and support that has been given to his department during this ordeal. “We’ve come a long way, but we still have a way to go.” said Mattox.

Agenda items for NALGW:

Put on hold due to recent weather event costs, etc. Will be revisited in March meeting.
Purchase of trailer for $25,686.80 approved.
Approved request to declare reconditioned transformers bought during COVID surplus.
Approved awarding special services contract to Cook Coggin.
Approved the hiring of Austin Johnson.

New Albany Fire Department:

Chief Mark Whiteside reported hearing about 115 calls since the Friday night of the ice storm. One structure in the city was lost to what was believed to be a storm-related fire. His department rolled out early Sunday morning “Saw a lot, Heard a lot, met a lot and felt for a lot of folks. There was a little damage at the fire house, and a generator took a hit and is dead. The Chief’s truck was damaged when hit by a limb. “Our goal when we started was to not make the same mistakes we made in 1994…we didn’t, but we made some more.”

Agenda Items:

1 Approved conditional hire to serve until an outcome is determined for an injured employee.

2. Chief Whiteside introduced Nancy Frohn, who explained the Safe Haven Baby Box program. NAFD hopes to to provie the Baby Box program in New Albany. Frohn will raise funds needed for the program’s expenses. There will be a “Baby Box” outside the firehouse. The box will alarm inside the firehouse when opened. A baby can be placed inside. A second alarm will ring in the firehouse when the box is closed. The fire department will take the baby to the hospital, after which it will be eligible to be adopted in 30-45 days. Chief Whiteside has agreed that the NAFD will participate in the program if the Board approves it. The Baby Boxes cos $16,000 and there is an annual fee of $600 for inspections, etc. The request was approved. Nancy Frohn will be the chief fund raiser for the program, and will see that all donations are accounted for.

The Board gave its approval for the program, and contract negotiation and other preparatory legalities will now get underway.

Park Along the River Bond Issue

Drew Horn discussed the proposed General Bond issue being considered for financing the first phase of the Park-Along-the -River renovation. Horn said the hold is requested in light of financial considerations resulting from the ice storm. The City must be able to service the bond if it is issued. The request to put the Bond Issue on hold was approved.

Emergency Declaration and Storm Debris:

Mayor Olson stated that it would likely be months, rather than weeks before the debris from the ice storm is cleared away. He explained that an approved site was being chosen where the storm debris could be taken to and that collecting the debris would be a time consuming process. As debris is collected, it must be documented in order to ensure local governments can be reimbursed. Olson asked for the public’s patience as the process continues.

Keith Conlee explained further for those who might be wondering why sanitation workers were picking up normal trash and things like boxes left out in front of homes, but not tree branches and other debris. Mayor Olson described the meticulous documentation process that has to take place, such as taking photos and measuring the diameters of fallen tree limbs. All this has to happen before they are hauled away to the approved site. A representative will also have to escort each load taken to the dump site to further document the volume of the refuse. All of this is necessary so that the cost of removal will be reimbursed by the state and federal government.

A question was asked about whether an emergency disaster declaration had been issued. Mayor Olson explained that FEMA would be conducting a damage assessment of New Albany and Union County in the coming days.

The board and Mayor Olson again expressed their appreciation to all the city workers and citizens who came together to help our community through one of its toughest crises in decades, both from a preparedness standpoint and a response standpoint. The meeting was then adjourned.

AGENDA New Albany Aldermen meeting February 2026

AGENDA New Albany Aldermen meeting Feb. 2026 pg 2