PICKENS — Pickens City Council held its first meeting of 2015 on Monday night.

Councilman Carlton Holley missed most of the meeting due to an obligation with a youth sport team. When Holley reported in after more than an hour, he told council members that his team lost, but he was really pleased with the character his team had displayed.

Sue Dinnsen of Duke Energy spoke to council members about instituting the second phase of Duke Energy’s Residential Neighborhood Program, which has been offered in certain neighborhoods in Pickens for the past month.

But that month-long effort was less successful than Duke had hoped, with just 46 of 670 homes opting for the improvements offered by Duke. Now the plan has received a new backer — Honeywell — and the poor weather has passed, so Dinnsen feels it has a chance to be successful.

Dinnsen plans to take the plans to 830 residents in another section of the city, as well as to the remaining 654 customers in the previously targeted area of the city. The group will hold a meeting Jan. 7 at Griffin-Ebeneezer Church in Pickens.

Council then approved the annexation of 2974 Gentry Memorial Highway and 112 Robinson Lane into the city.

Council also selected BB&T as its employee health insurance broker for 2016, as it has been for the past three years.

Council members also agreed to postpone the city work session that had been set for Jan. 18 to Jan. 19 in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Donnie McKinney was nominated for mayor pro tem by councilman Fletcher Perry and was approved unanimously.