Businessman Jay Sharpe Fills Vacant Utility Board Seat
Friday, June 27th, 2014
Welcome to the Water, Gas & Light Commission, Jay Sharpe.
Appointed by the Albany City Commission Wednesday night to fill a vacant seat on the five-person utility board, Sharpe stepped into a powder keg Thursday morning when, a short time after he was sworn into office by attorney Sam Engram, interim WG&L General Manager Tom Berry announced his resignation.
Angered over a City Commission discussion of a proposed charter change that would, among other things, give the WG&L board the authority to approve rights-of-way acquisitions up to $250,000, Berry stunned those at Thursday’s WG&L board meeting by announcing his plans to resign “immediately.”
Berry later said he could no longer work with the “dysfunctional” city government. “Unfortunately, the demons that plague this city will be here for a long time, until there are some deaths,” he said.
