City council discussion on how to fill the part-time office position at Alba City Hall quickly turned into a longer-range look at how to replace longtime City Secretary Lindy McCarty Monday night.

McCarty announced that she is targeting April 2026 for retirement and would like to be able to work with her successor for at least a year.

That led the council to consider looking at a full-time position in order to help attract a person willing to train for and take over the position McCarty has held for more than 31 years.

The council also discussed various methods for recruiting the person to fill the spot.

The council talked at length about the planned street improvement project, armed with an estimate of $1.6 million to repair all the streets.

Public Works Director Paul Kelbe said that even if the city adopted a 10-year plan, $160,000 per year would be too much for the city to afford.

He added that some streets can be taken off the plan or at least dropped to the bottom of the list.

Three streets – Campbell, Osbourn and Kirby – will be repaired as part of a community development grant the city expects to receive in the fall.

Others have had repairs done and won’t need to be addressed right away, he said.

McCarty encouraged the council members to drive the streets and identify those that need to be addressed first.

The current city budget for streets is $25,000 per year.

The council did learn that the Alba Economic Development Corp. (EDC) can use sales tax proceeds to assist with street improvements.

The council approved a plan by the EDC to spend $13,528 for lighting for the walking path in the city park.

Fifteen poles will be installed with dusk-to-dawn LED lighting.

The council heard that plans to sell four vehicles seized in drug arrests have hit a snag with eBay. Police Chief Juan Ramirez said the online auction firm is changing its policies and he is not yet sure if the city will be able to sell vehicles on the site.

Mayor Don Heinert and council members Tammy Kelbe and Debi Shaddox were sworn in for second terms. They were reelected without opposition in May.