General Services, Health and Environment Committee - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. We are welcome to the Albany Common Council Caucus. Um we are joined by council members Williamson Johnson Lerin Powell Brody Zamer and Hoey and myself Frell. We are also joined by our staff, uh, the incredible Chenica Jackson, our clerk. Um, we also have our amazing research council, Robert Wener, the wonderful Martha Mahoney from Corp Council, and the stellar Carly Johnson. Um, what I'll do is I'll be going through the agenda. Um, a quick note, we were supposed to have a council operations and ethics committee meeting. Unfortunately, because of delays of council members who attended the Baltimore um event with the mayor's office, which we appreciate, we are unable to have that have a quorum for that meeting. So, Miriam Dixon is here. Um we will ask her questions after we go through our agenda. Um we're also joined by Council President Kelly Kimbro. Um so we have um if we go through our agenda um we have some people from National Grid. When we get to that we'll invite them up to talk a little bit more about those ordinances. Um Carly, quick question. Uh just remind me, do we have minutes? I believe we have minutes. Um we will be voting on the minutes from our last meeting. Um

in local laws introduced, we have a law from council member Balorin um amending an article of the code of the city of Albany in relation to the department of administrative services and the office of cultural affairs. that is, I believe, to move cultural affairs from administrative services into the mayor's office. Um, do you want to say anything to that, Council Member Balorin?

Sure. Uh, it's going to go to committee uh for discussion. Uh, but the the goal is to move this position from the like council member F said from the administrative services uh to report directly to the B. Uh I think it's part of the mayor's goal to bring more vibrancy and and and turn on the lights uh as it's been said and having direct uh oversight of this position uh as part of uh the administration's uh plan. So that's going to be moving forward on uh to the committee.

Thank you. So um that will be assigned to the law buildings and code committee unless you would prefer it to go because it doesn't fit neatly in any committee. So would you prefer it to go to a different one? I thought it was going to human resources. It can that is perfect place. We can put it there too. It will go to human resources. Okay. Thank you.

Yes. Um, next in local laws held, we will be voting on council member Hoe's local law amending article 7, the senior citizens tax exemption. Um, that did pass through the finance committee meeting. Would you like to say anything, Council Member Holly?

Um, I think this is a a really good law for our senior citizens in the city. Um, as I brought up during the committee meeting, a lot of times people, especially when you get to my age, you forget things. You forget to apply for your uh exemption. Um, one of the things that came out when we had Trey here, and I didn't realize, not only does it affect your uh city tax, but it also affects your school tax. So, I mean, there's double savings there for our uh senior citizens. And when a law like this passes, I think more people become aware that, oh, I could be eligible for this and um yeah, I think it's a a good law and I hope everybody will support it. Thank you.

Um we will also be voting on council member Keegan's local law C of 2026 um which is to bring the majority whip officially into um into existence in terms of salaries. That also passed the finance committee meeting. Um, next in ordinances introduced, we have an ordinance from council member Balorin, ordinance 3226, um, which is a new clause restricting parking to commercial vehicles to two commercial vehicles per block, per household or business. That will go to planning. Uh do you want to say anything on it, Council Member Balerin? I

I'll be brief. Uh we'll discuss some more planning. Uh the the goal is to limit commercial uh vehicles on residential neighborhoods to to two per um per block uh to allow residents to have parking in their neighborhoods, especially for overnight parking.

Thank you very much. And ordinances held. will be considering uh Council Member Williamson's ordinance 22126 um which is offering a permanent easement to Niagara Mohawk um for upgrades to the Norman Skull Gas Regulator Station project. Um we do have representatives from Niagara Mohawk if you want to come on up. if you want to introduce yourself and kind of explain the ordinance a bit. Good evening. Uh my name is Andrew Cammer. I'm the project manager from National Grid on this normal project here. So what we're requesting from the city of Albany is a permanent uh easement for our relief valve as well as temporary workspace um and for the marshalling yard on the Norman skill site itself. Um I know in speaking with council there are some concerns regarding the overlap in the easement with eastern gas transmission. We've spoke with them and we've provided councel with the uh confirmation that Eastern Gas um we're their customer, they're a gas supplier, that they're on board with the overlapping easement, permanent easement for our release sighting. Um, additionally, it was brought up there's some concerns regarding access to the community garden and dog park located on Mil Road. Um, as conditions for the planning board approval, which we were granted on

December 2nd, um, we are anticipating no impacts to that. uh and that's included in the bid documents which the contractor is well aware of. Additionally, we had a similar project um last summer that occurred on the slope adjacent to the Norman's kill uh the E30 HDD project um which we use we're using similar workspace here for that and there was no impact to access to the dog park or the community garden there.

Um excellent. We appreciate those updates. I think we were also waiting for maps. I don't know if those I didn't see those forwarded, but it may have we we uh look forward to receiving them. Are there any council members that have any questions? Further questions? Council member Hoey.

Yeah, I had uh Thank you for coming. Um I had brought up my only concern is will that uh gas valve that's going to be permanently there be protected? I heard there would be a fence, but you see this all the time, I'm sure. Um, but I know with cars, you know, sometimes people, you know, are abbreviated or whatever. And will how safe will it be? Uh, so we went through comprehensive facility sighting process as part of our engineering for the site and it's on the other side of the BH fence and it'll be fully fenced in and secured as per industry standards. Thank you,

Council Member Brody. Thank you. Just wanted to make sure I understood correctly. So, the access to the community gardens, the trails that are existing, and the dog park would not be inhibited by the easement. That's correct. Yeah. As per the contractor's contract, they're bound to keep Mill Road open and accessible. Okay. Thank you. Any further questions? Thank you so much for coming in. We really appreciate it. and um we look forward to if the maps can be shared with the full council before we vote on it that would be wonderful. Um thank you. Thank you.

Next in ordinances I'm sorry. Um in resolutions introduced from council member Williamson. This is resolution 12226R. for a resolution um honoring the African-American individuals from the city of Albany who have been inducted in the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame. A quick note, we will be taking this out of order um to write after public comment. Um there are some individuals that would like to speak on it. So we'll if council um council president we can take this ordinance directly after public comment. Um that would be appreciated. Council member Williamson, would you like to say anything on this?

Yes. Um, thank you. Um, I'm so excited for that to um be a part of this um historical um for New York State basketball men and women that has been inducted. I really truly believe that um the young ladies and young men of color needs to see um the things that what they done um to be able to be inducted in New York State High School. We going back to the early 60s on up to today's date. And I'm so proud of each and every one of them as well as the young men and young ladies that's been inducted. I'm so proud of them to be a part. Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing this forward, Council Member Williamson, and we appreciate it. Um, is this Could I get a kind of an indication of members that would like to be co-sponsors on this? Um, so this looks like it will be a voice vote. will confirm at caucus before the meeting. In resolutions held, um we have a resolution of the common council affirming the appointment of Miriam Dixon as the commissioner of administrative services. Um, as noted, because we are unable to have that committee meeting right now, um, because we will not have quorum, we will be asking questions of Miriam Dixon, um, tonight momentarily. Um, but I'm not sure if we'll be discharging this from committee or if we will just allow the the confirmation to go through. I'm going to check in with the administration on how they would like to

proceed. Um, we certainly do not want to hold up the process um because we're unable to do quorum and we also appreciate numbers that went to Baltimore. Um, so sometimes these things happen. Next, uh, resolution 41226R. That is a resolution of the common council approving a transfer of budgeted funds um and a change of authorized positions included in the 2026 budget which will affect salary rates or salary total. Um that passed the finance committee meeting and we have gotten all information from that. So we will be voting on that. Um, next we have resolution 51226R, a resolution of the common council approving a transfer of budgeted funds in the 2026 city budget which will affect the salary rate or salary total. Um, that was that passed through as well and we are waiting on the parameters of I believe that's the DOJ grant that we needed the parameters. So, um once we receive that, uh we'll be able to I'm expected we'll receive that. That is not overly complicated and um we'll be able to vote on that. Um should we not receive that, it is something that's important if council asks for further information, uh we'd like to make in a public meeting and it's agreed to, we do like to make sure that we have that before we vote on anything. So if that does not if we don't get that information for some reason um or sometimes when somebody that is there thinks they can easily get something to you they can't um or some reason why they're unable to

provide that information. Um, we'll see. But right now, the intent is to vote on that legislation. And that is everything for the agenda. I'd like to welcome Miriam Dixon up. And I would note um, as I said, um, Stixon did work for the city of Albany. We've requested um all personnel records for anybody that has worked for the city of Albany. Um the they have been shared. It is something we like to be sensitive to that kind of information. So um if you would like to look through that, you are welcome to talk to our council staff. Bobby has that. He can show it to you. Um, I will say there is nothing notable in it. Uh, which is a good thing in a personnel file. Um, and should you for anybody that would like her resume that I can make sure that we have copies for it. Not everybody may have copies. Carly will grab them. But would anybody like to Council Member Johnson,

I just want to ask a question. Is uh with so many people absent, is it necessary for her to have this conversation when it seems like you know it should be with um a fuller um council? That's the question I would like to ask. So what the process is, she would normally just be going to the council operations and ethics committee. We usually put our commissioners through the specific committee and they go to that committee and answer questions of that committee. So there's actually a lot more council members here than would be if it was just council operation and ethics. But to your point, because this is not the intended way of moving forward, it is something I will discuss at the caucus to see if there if we would like to ask her to come back for the full council to ask some questions because it is done separately and she was willing to to do that. Um, but I also don't think that we should hold up her appointment because we didn't we weren't able to provide the quorum. So that's um that's the main the main reason that I've she was going to be here anyway. So I said why not come into caucus? We can ask some questions. We can ask further questions at a future time but we shouldn't hold up the appointment just based on our own timing.

And and I agree and I my question wasn't to hold up her appointment. it was just to, you know, be fair to others that may, you know, wanted to ask questions and a number of people are um coming back. So, I, you know, am happy about the appointment and just wanted to be fair to her and not to make her have to do it twice. And so, that was my um purpose.

Yeah. I mean comp I very much appreciate that because we are up against the 45 days we do need to vote at our either vote or allow the confirmation to go through without voting by our next council meeting. So I do think it's important that regardless of who's here is an opportunity before she's officially confirmed for council members to ask questions. Um, and we'll defer if we certainly want to make sure that it's not inconvenient for her to come back, but um, it is I think it's really important for council to ask questions before she's confirmed and because we are up against that deadline. Um, and these things do happen that the Baltimore trip was a great opportunity. We're thrilled members went to it and to your point, some of them are delayed coming back. Um, it happens sometimes, but we don't want to hold up the appointment because of the good things that are happening. So, Council Member Hoey.

Yeah. And I'd just like to add because I was on the Baltimore trip myself, there's only two members that are left in Baltimore that were waiting to come back. So, everybody else that's missing choose not to come to caucus. And uh you know as you know um the last session of the council there was many meetings we didn't have quorum to even have the caucus meetings. So I think we all should as council members it's our responsibility to try to make the meetings. I mean life happens. We know that. Um, and the other point I'd like to make out is I know if it goes beyond 45 days, it's automatic, but I would rather have council on the record that we approve this because for anybody to do a good job, it'd be nice to have the approval at least when you start that to do it. So, you know, I understand the point and, you know, if Miss Dixon can come back for our caucus before the meeting, that'd be great. But, um, I agree that we we really should move forward with this. Thank you. And

real quick, and just uh remember a prior council fought for us to get the confirmation uh the ability to confirm u these appointees and I think it'd be a bad idea to to just let it expire. We have to decide and and be act proactive in our vote.

Agreed. Thank you very much. Um, so with that, are there any questions to Miss Dixon? Why don't actually why don't we start off tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and um, and that might thank you um, for the opportunity to speak with you today. So, I did prepare some remarks um just to kind of keep me on track because I have a lot um to talk about with you, but I want to go through this first and then I'm welcoming any questions that any of you may have. Um I am honored that the mayor selected me to serve in the role of commissioner of administrative services. My career has been grounded in public service, leading complex administrative and operational functions within municipal and statewide government. Throughout that work, my focus has always been on building systems that are clear, accountable, fiscally responsible, and supportive of the people who rely on them. Administrative services sits at the center of how the city functions. The department supports budgeting, human resources, civil service, payroll, purchasing, MWBE compliance, currently cultural affairs, and other core operations that allow city departments to serve residents effectively. If confirmed, my responsibility will be to ensure these systems operate efficiently, transparently, and in alignment with the policy direction established by the mayor and this council. My approach is grounded in operational clarity, fiscal discipline, and enterprise collaboration. Strong municipal governance depends on clear processes, early communication about fiscal risk, consistent workforce management practices, and mutual respect

between the administration and the legislative body. I understand that this role requires partnership with the C countman council. I am committed to providing timely, accurate information, to operating with professionalism and accountability, and to serving the residents of Albany with integrity. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I welcome your questions. Thank you very much, Council Member Zemer.

Thank you. Um, and thank you for being here. Your resume is so impressive and obviously you're supremely qualified for this position. Um I'm wondering if you've identified or or thought about some um improvements and some efficiencies since you you certainly have a background in identifying these kinds of things. And I don't mean to put you on the spot if you haven't had a chance to really delve in yet, but if there are any sort of implements that you have that you that you look forward to trying to implement.

Thank you. So, I actually um came on and I spoke with my team about what I call a listening tour. Um, and it is planned to be a 90day listening tour. I am at this point actually halfway through it. Um and it goes beyond just my internal team, but I have also started having conversations with the departments um throughout the city. And the intention of these uh listening tour and these conversations is to really get a feel for where things stand currently. Um, so I don't at this point have recommendations or suggestions of things that I would change. I think the point that I am at at this point is I am establishing a list of priorities. Um, and I can say 45 days into this conversation that enterprisewide, so citywide, I'm looking at really strengthening um the cross department coordination. Something that I have heard from the leaders in some of the departments is we work in silos and so I think in this role that cross department coordination will be very important. Um I'm also looking at really reinforcing fiscal discipline um and accountability. I think that a lot of time is spent preparing the budget. Um the departments go through a lot of time presenting the budget. This council spends a lot of time looking at the budget. Uh and I think it's very important for us to be responsible and accountable to that budget. So, um I do would like to look at some forecasting as far as budget

goes, looking out more than just in this current year, but what can we do several years out? Um as well as transport parent reporting. So, that's something that I have talked with our budget director about at this point already. Um and then the third thing that I really want to look at is building a sustainable workforce pipelines. Um I think recruitment is very important. Recruitment on a tight budget is even more important. Um and retention is another part of that. So working with our HR team and the departments um around recruitment and what we can do to really expand our recruitment um is something else that I've identified early on as a priority. Thank you so much. And just um if you would allow me, something that I've um heard um from a lot of folks who are mid-career and want to want to work for the city. They're idealistic. They're um they want to give their expertise to something that matters and they're willing to take a pay cut to do it. But what they're not willing to do is take a vacation cut. Is that they've spent 10 years um building up vacation time and then in order to to parlay into the city, they lose all of that and they start like on a you know first year level which so just a suggestion maybe more perks and people will would take a a lesser salary. Thank you. Council member Johnson,

I just want to say welcome back. Um, it's nice to see faces that are familiar and, you know, for you and I on a personal level, I think that, you know, a lot of things have changed and I'm excited about, you know, what you are going to bring to your new position. Thank you, Council Member Broden.

Thank you, and thank you for being here tonight. Um, one of the things that um, jumped out at me as, um, excuse the nerdiness here, but as exciting uh, in your resume was, uh, the oversight you had in your previous role at the New York State Teachers Retirement System. um overseeing the records digitization proc progress. Um transitioning paper archives into the digital 21st century it sounds like. Um I'd love to learn a little bit more about that project in particular knowing from what constituents have been telling me for a while and what I've sort of struggled with with um the city as well is um understanding how best to interact with the data that is produced by all of city operations. Um, and I couldn't help but notice because it was brought up during u committee I believe a week ago that the city's open data website has been taken down um without real explanation. Um I'm not sure if that's in your purview or somebody else's. Um but I'd love to know what um experience you gained through that previous role um in something that's could be so potentially impactful here in the city of Albany. Thank you. Yes. So at um the New York teachers state teachers retirement system um we started the project to move 100-year-old records um to digital records. It is a major undertaking and it is a very costly undertaking. Um so we the steps in the process really as we got through it we realized that a lot of what we had um actually could not be transferred to digital just because the integrity of what we had some of you know the documents were older wouldn't go through the machines that they were

using or when we did do the sample loads um it was not legible so we would likely encounter similar issues here I know from being in payroll and HR that we also had a lot of documents that were um exposed. So they were not housed upstairs correctly and different things. So there's a lot that will be lost in the process. But I do think um that what we did appreciate was that what we did get out of it was very usable. Um, and they made it very easy to search, which was very helpful when, you know, we were looking back at the records of teachers who had been teaching for extended amounts of time. And I think here we have a lot of the same stuff, at least in my areas that I am aware of. Um, you know, the HR team, payroll team has to go back when we're looking to retire employees and look at those very old payroll files in some cases where things were missing. And so having that as searchable um information will save us a ton of time and I'm sure if we can do that in area other areas across the city it will be similar. Um I did speak with our city representative at the hall of records uh actually last week about some of the things that they're doing. Um and I know that there was a grant that was received in payroll. I think it was last year to start digitizing some of that those records. So, it's definitely something that as funding is available and we can prioritize which records we want to digitize, um, as much of it as we can move to, I think it's a great idea for us to move in that direction.

Thank you. Um, I'm not sure if there's other questions. I council member Hoey.

Thank you. Thank you, Miriam, for coming and and we're excited about where we're going to be going. Um, you you had mentioned about the listening. Um, and we have been listening to a lot of employees do come to the council and they're upset about different conditions. So, um, I'm hoping that with you in there, you know, at the head that, you know, that would kind of calm down. Um, you know, and I believe in training, in promotion from within. You know, if you can give somebody a a job and move them up, you know, with a little bit of training, I'd rather do it from internal than external. But a lot of, and believe me, I was a manager myself. You hate losing good people to another position. So, um, I just wanted I hope you keep that in mind. And to me, training is the most valuable thing that any of us can get, you know, doing our jobs. The one uh thing that I really like you to look at, um, and I talked to Rachel Mciny some years ago when she was, you know, in this role, um, is the amount of cars going home. I'd like that to be relooked at. Um, I know it's nice not having to use your own personal car, but many of us use our cars to get to work and stuff. There are certain departments like the chief of police, the chief of fire. Yes. But then when you get down the the food chain, how what level allows that? Now, I kind of remember from this is from a few years ago, it was 163 cars and a lot of them were going home. Um, and I didn't pursue it. We had COVID going on and a lot of things, but it's something definitely look worth looking at. And it's not only the expense of running the cars and gas

and stuff, but it's also the liability that if an employee has a city car and they're in an accident, that puts the city at risk. So I think a long term not not expecting anything overnight but I would would like you to look at it and try to figure out a way can we get down the the number of cars because that is a big budget item. Um I don't know the exact numbers. I'm not on the budget committee but it might be something worth looking at for savings. So um I know we're making deals with the CDTA. Um, this might be instead of having a car, can you take a a bus to where you got to go? I don't want to inconvenience anybody, but I it'd be worth looking at is what I'm saying. And good luck and I'm I'm excited about coming on board.

Thank you very much. I have a Oh, Council Member Balerin. Thank you, President B. Um, welcome back. Uh, I'm glad you're coming back. I have a question that was given to me once that I always ask people in interviews. If you could be an animal other than a human, what animal would you be?

That is a first. Um, and I want to be thoughtful. I know, but there's a lot of good answers. Um, because you also want to know why. I'm guessing you don't just want the animal. Yeah. Okay. Um, I think for me, I would go with a cheetah. And it's not just because of the print. Um, I think that the stealthy way that they move is imperative. Um, especially in the role that I would have here. Um, but also I find that it's very important in my personal life as the parent of two teenage boys, uh, that I need to be able to be very flexible and nimble. Um, and so I think that the cheetah does speak to some of those skills that are both personal and professional for me.

Well, thank you. That that was a first. So that's Thank you.

Thank you. And just for the record, I think that you could say cheetah based on print too and not even have things. I have a few questions. Um well certainly you have I mean obviously your your HR experience is very impressive and your experience across the board is very impressive. Um but building and oversight over municipal budgets is really a special skill set. And while there's certainly budget um experience in your resume, I just wanted to if you could speak a bit about your thought process because this is something that um it's one of the major pieces of your job to kind of oversee the budget process um oversee the building of the budget and and I will say um I Gideon Grandandy is amazing at his job. We're very lucky to have him in the city. So, you have great staff to rely on. Um, but I just wanted to know if I wanted to see if you could talk a bit about your thought process on this new role with specifically with municipal budgets and um building them, overseeing them and and the overall budget process.

Yes. So definitely um the municipal budget is different from what I dealt with at Nisters with a state state level um budget, but I think like you said, we have a wonderful budget director um in Gideon and he and I have spent the first 45 days really unpacking some of the things that are going into the budget. So I think my approach is using these six months ahead of the budget process kickoff to really understand how the budget is built. Um I think it's imperative that we are looking and I spoke about this at multi-year forecasting looking at really variance tracking between the years um so that we can identify some of the gaps that we see. Um, and I think that working with Gideon, getting some of this reporting from him early on is going to be important for my input when we get closer to the budget process kicking off. Um some of the things that we have been talking about is really looking at um improving the communication of some of the risk that Gideon sees um in the budget the budget process how it's built and then the actual execution of that budget that is built. So I spoke about the accountability of that and I think really Gideon's role is to put that budget together to work with the departments to put it together but I see my role is really supporting that accountability to the budget once it has

been produced. Um bringing forward those fiscal risk early uh and keeping making sure that the mayor and the council are aware of areas where we will see concern. um knowing that we are working in a very tough budget environment um and that a large portion of that budget is made up of our personnel services. that is something that we you know as department leaders can manage too to a certain extent and I think that really us working on that and being informative and being great communicators about that early is going to be important. So I think yes we have a great budget director we have someone who is very deeply involved and aware of all the pieces of the budget. So, I don't see myself needing to step in to that level with Gideon, but I think there is definitely an oversight purpose that I can serve um in working with the departments in the process.

Thank you so much. Um and that very much appreciated especially as we do have so many unknowns, especially when it comes to federal funding. um and even federal funding and how it impacts future state aid in future years. Um so we're lucky, knock on wood, uh this year was not the dismal state budget year that it was expected to be, but we're still hearing concerns about building the budget for financial year 28. Um which we would deal with next year. Um and that's unknown as well. So we as we are all trying to kind of grapple with these unknowns um it's appreciated that you're utilizing the resources that we have but also keeping a watchful eye on it. Um, and I I I did want to I'm glad that Council Member Hoey noted our workforce culture um subcommittee because while I don't think it's necessarily anything to I don't have a specific question about it. Um I do think it is something it's important to note that that is a committee that really did a lot of work. Um there's a few pieces left, but it's likely that there's going to be more information that is coming with that. Um you have I mean you have an across the board impressive resume. Um but certainly somebody that is very knowledgeable on HR issues including working with different union representation. Um because I will say sometimes as we navigate this um I know for me and other council members um who are huge advocates of um unions and

unions supporting our workers. Um sometimes we we do feel held back by the overall, you know, we when we did um the I had living wage legislation that we passed because um there were issues negotiating ensuring that all of our workers had a living wage. So that was um there's broader pieces. So, I just I wanted to note that that there's still more coming and we really look forward to fully utilizing your expertise in that area because um we are incredibly grateful to the people that work for the city of Albany in every capacity and um making sure that they feel supported um and that they are really given a a job where they are respected. and feel respect um is one of the most important things that we can do. So um your resume does give me a lot of hope that we can do better work in that area moving forward. Um, and I just also wanted to note I had noticed you have um something with ethics in here and we recently passed um comp our first um comprehensive ethics um legislation so that the city of Albany has our own ethics process. um we will be in the process of appointing um an actual board of ethics to look at things and so when I saw that I hope that you will partner with us on that because um that's something that we really could use assistance and support from from the administration side. Um, ethics is incredibly important in making

sure that we have a process for it that functions, which um is necessary because while New York State has ethics laws and the federal government has ethics laws, um, getting into the nitty-gritty of making sure that ethics are followed on the local level is also critically important. Um, and then I just have one more question. So, we did change um our residency requirement for city of Albany people, however, not for commissioners. So, I just wanted to confirm that you if you are not a City of Albany resident that you do intend to move in soon.

I do um I am not currently a City of Albany resident, but I was aware of the change. Um actually, the commissioner wasn't a change. So, yes, I will be moved in before I think at least 6 months. Excellent. Well, we're thrilled that you're here and we look forward to calling you a neighbor and I'm sure every single council member, if you haven't already picked out a house, we would talk it up crazy because we all love where we live. Thank you. So, um, are there any other questions? Council member Pal,

thank you. Um, thank you for being here. It's it's lovely to meet you. I've not met you to sign. No, you're back. Um, but I have a question. uh ever like everyone else said, your uh resume is very impressive and I know you said you're doing a 90day um you know tour to try to get information from staff, but I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about you know you have such an impressive resume like best practices you've seen operational efficiencies like you know we're always asked in government to work smarter not harder right and so what kind of things In that respect, do you foresee you know using anything you've learned in your you know vast experiences to bring to our city?

So one of the things um that we started working on immediately was with the HR team on policy review. Um, the city has a number of HR policies and I think the manual was 97, maybe a little bit over a 100 pages long and we do that as a part of orientation with new hires. That's the point that we go over that massive policy manual. And um for most employees that's the last time that they really have a conversation about policy. So one of the things um that I have implemented in prior roles is revisiting policy on an annual basis. So not just new hires but all staff are revisiting our policies and we are resigning those policies and we're also doing trainings that support those policies. Um and I think that's an immediate move as far as best practice goes uh in the HR space. Another thing that we are already working on um is it was started with my predecessor the move to a comprehensive ERP um software. So I know that at the beginning of the year we stood that up in our finance budget um and purchasing areas and we are now moving into going to that software the implementation process for our HR and payroll teams. So getting more of our processes streamlined through an ERP system will move us closer to best practice. It will also um allow for better reporting and

that better reporting makes it easier for decision makers to make decisions when they're using good data. So those are some quick wins that we have in the best practice space that we've identified already. Um I did commit to the team to not making any changes in the first 30 days. So we are now into the second half of our uh listening tour. So we are moving now to talk about how we make those changes. Um but I think that there are a number of what I consider lowhanging fruit in the best practice space. So I am happy to have further conversation about some of those ideas that I have as we get closer to um the 60-day mark of the listening tour.

Thank you. Welcome, Council Member Brody.

Thank you. Um, I particularly appreciated what you said and what I think the administration stands for around um the accountability and effectiveness and and transparency of the budgeting process. Um, and I know tonight we're going to be uh hearing uh tw uh what is it? 14.12.26R, 26R which is the resolution that um increases the uh salary for the deputy commissioner of administrative services by almost 20%. Um so in finance committee we had asked for justification for the the increase for this year and the impacts for uh future years. Um and I know we got the um justification due to the vacancies being held that that number could be attained without any impact in 2026. Um but it did not seem that the information provided um cause you know would would in any way confirm that uh the total cost of personnel wouldn't just go up by the requested amount this year. Um, so in that spirit of of thinking about proactive reporting and um thinking through some hard choices that will likely be um on all of our desks pretty soon. Um, I'd love to hear a little bit more of your uh thoughts on the justification for not only that role being net new this year, but then one month into the year coming and asking for a salary increase that is not u included u against any savings for 27. Mhm. Um, so I think looking at I mean I can't speak to what was put in place before I arrived as far as the numbers for this role. I know that there was explanation of what was expected the

role to be and then um what the mayor is looking for the role to be were two different levels. So I think as far as where we're landing with the salary for that role, it is comparable to the market value with the expectation of this being the deputy um in a department that oversees eight other departments. As far as the plan going forward for that role, I think we will look at the personnel services lines comprehensively. I don't think and I think it's bad planning for us to look at them in a vacuum um and say that we'll do something with this one without seeing the larger picture uh for the outy years. And that's where I talk about doing some forecasting. That's where we're looking at doing some um workforce planning meetings. So, we're not just responding to the current need, but we're looking at the outears and the needs that are potentially to come up. Um, council member had talked about promotion opportunities. So, those are all things that can be done to help manage those lines as we're looking out. Um but I don't think we can commit in one line in one department to a cut when we have a much larger personnel um issue that we have to look at across the entire budget. And I think as we look at that in the budget process, that is where we're going to be looking for departments to be um being more thoughtful as far as our uh expectations around actual hiring and not just wishful hiring. Those are things that I think we look at in the whole and not just the one department making moves.

So is it fair to assume then that if this resolution passes permitting not just obviously the new role which was included in the budget but the almost 20% salary increase the the holistic view of the budget for not just personnel but also non-personnel service um in your larger department would take into consideration possible offsets in 27 then for that

I think we would definitely be taking into consider consideration what can be done. Um I think that the intent is to be uh fiscally responsible when we're doing the budget overall. So finding those places where we can make savings is part of the budget process. I look forward to working on that. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I will note that that we did receive that information that was fully that was requested on that. Um so it is something we look forward to voting on in the next meeting. Um with no other questions. Um thank you so much for coming and we really appreciate the opportunity to ask you questions. Um and although it was not the process that we had anticipated, the positive is that there are actually many more council members that were part of it. Um and we appreciate should there be additional questions or anything like that from members that were delayed due to traveling back from Baltimore um that we have an opportunity. They can either talk to you directly or um we can potentially touch base about coming back again to another caucus. But um we appreciate your work so far and look forward to continue working with you. Thank you very very much.

Thank you. Thank you all so much. I look forward to working with you. Um and I just want to note that um I had noted that for anybody that is going through the confirmation process and this I'm just talking to council members sorry um that we have requested um personal records for anybody that has been with the city of Albany at any point um through the process. We also requested uh any background checks that they were doing. The players administration has chosen to not do background checks um for the commissioner level. Um we respect that decision, but just wanted to flag that um that should there be anything like that, background checks or anything like that, we have asked for that information be provided as well. Um again, that will be with our council. Um, we want to make sure that while we get the information, we also protect it because just because you're going through a confirmation process does not mean that you should have your personal information shared where it can be shared beyond. So, um, are there any questions or anything else that anyone wants to note before we end caucus? Council member Johnson.

Thank Thank you. Um, I would like to talk about the Black History um, celebration that we had and give some feedback. Um, I think in in this area uh, we have two major celebrations, the Martin Luther King and then it's followed up by our um, celebration. And some of the feedback that I got is um people are not particularly interested in hearing from non black people um in the manner that they like what they have been experiencing is the only people that they hear from on the state level is non um African-Americans and there there are AfricanAmericans standing up there that they never get to hear from. Um I think that uh to give uh as many people as they were given an opportunity to speak and then turn around and say that um members have one minute to speak um about um their um person that they selected and we invited their family members to come. I said you know um people um are coming to celebrate and we're having it on a Friday which is a prime day. Um people are taking time out of their schedule to come and um hear about their family member and for it to be um broadcasted that they're only going to have one minute um just wasn't a good look in terms of what people were coming and expecting to hear and how we have normally um done that. And so um that was the u one of the other um concerns was the food the food wasn't u prepared by African-Americans. And so you know this is just feedback. I didn't eat the food. I didn't see who um prepared the food. Um one of the things that um people um enjoyed was the

talent. Um, I thought that um that was a um a a good piece that was added on to it and not to just come here and be downed about it, but I think um it is important that um cuz you know I went to the state level last year and it was a smack in the face and when I I wanted to say something but I didn't and soon as I walked away a gentleman and that was non um he he wasn't a black person. Walked up to me and said, "I didn't want to hear them. I would have rather heard you speak." And I and you know um and coming back from Baltimore, one of the things that I'm going to continue to do is speak to truth to power. And um it is important that that is taken into um consideration because Black History is an important month. And um it's also important to um not put time limits on people. And and I think that um if you have two things on a schedule, you got to make a choice. Um it's not like we uh recognize um individuals all the time. And when we do take time out to recognize people, I would hope that it wouldn't be a speed test. I hope that um it was some interesting people. I felt rushed. I felt that the person that I recognized um deserved to have, you know, his full um time because he isn't a person that normally allows people to um recognize him. And um I just u wanted to um bring that to the point um of the floor because it was brought to me initially when I saw the email. I had concerns about it, but I didn't want to jump out the window. But, you know, um

that was a long um part to wait through when you listen to, you know, um and I'm not saying that no, um people could speak, but in that case, it's we should make a um selection if it's going to be one of them and and not all of them and not and hopefully um set a precedent for the state to be able to see because on a state level um that celebration used to be huge. uge and it's um you know it's getting smaller and smaller and we have to um make adjustments to um not push away people that are participating um when they come down here people who come and speak. We should be responding to um um the stuff that they're speaking about in the next um with the next agenda or soon. So, uh, I just wanted to share that because it was shared to me and, um, I think that, uh, it it needed to be heard. Thank you.

Thank you very much for sharing that feedback. It is it's a great event, but it can always be improved and that's definitely important feedback for it. Does anyone else have anything before we close out? Seeing nothing, can I get a motion? Motion to adjurnn and a second. All right. Have a great night everyone.