COVID impact is the story of 2020 for city of Albany

ALBANY — No one could have anticipated what 2020 would bring, and the challenges it would present to local government was the message Albany’s chief administrator focused on in an annual report to the Albany City Commission.

The city began running “tabletop exercises” on how it would respond to the COVID-19 pandemic when the virus emerged early in the year, City Manager Sharon Subadan said during the Tuesday report to the commission, “But we never thought it would actually happen. We never thought it would come our way.”

Dougherty County became a worldwide hot spot for the virus in March and has seen more than 200 deaths.

“Since then, we have had 48 news conferences, 73 COVID task force (calls), hundreds of Zoom meetings, coordinated test results,” Subadan said. “We have distributed masks in the community. So many of our staff members have lost siblings, parents and loved ones.”

The effort also has included testing wastewater from households, which has confirmed a heavy presence of the virus in the material when cases peak.

The city also has offered assistance to individuals and businesses, including $738,732 in a small business program that provided grants of up to $10,000, utility relief to businesses totaling $46,349, $526,000 provided to the United Way for an eviction-prevention program and household utility assistance of $200,000.

On the public safety front, Subadan pointed to the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, which focuses on repeat and violent offenders. Local officers, working with state and federal agencies, made a significant number of arrests during the year.

The Albany Police Department has acquired a video system for both officers and cars, license plate recognition equipment and ticket printers in cars. The commission also approved cameras to monitor traffic in school zones.

The police department also hired 47 officers during the year, Subadan said, received its second certification from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, successfully handled Black Lives Matter protests and is undergoing a public safety study.

At the Christmas tree-lighting ceremony downtown, Mayor Bo Dorough said, he met three families who lost loved ones and it drove home the impact of the disease.

The Tuesday meeting closed out the year for the commission.

“I just think this is a time to reflect on what we have lost this year,” Dorough said.

Commissioner Jon Howard issued a tirade against littering that he said makes parts of his Ward I that covers east Albany an eyesore.

“I’m tired of seeing old cars in backyards that will never run in a hundred years,” he said. “I’m tired of old sofas and love seats on front porches. Yes, I’ve talked about it, but I’m tired of residents in east Albany and other wards dumping furniture in alleys and cul-de-sacs.

“I’m tired of driving by my alma mater and seeing … garbage littering the streets. People of east Albany, we can do better.”

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