After suffering storm damage, Hamilton Relay in Albany is rebuilding, hiring more employees

ALBANY — Hamilton Relay has been providing telecommunications relay services for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or have difficulty speaking since 1991. After suffering severe storm damage to its Albany location in January, the company is coming back stronger than ever and looking to expand.

Hamilton Relay is a division of Hamilton Telecommunications, which was established in 1901 as a small regional telephone company, but has since grown to encompass seven primary company divisions by leading the independent communications market in the United States.

In the beginning, Hamilton Relay provided traditional relay services within its own home state of Nebraska. Over the years, though, Hamilton has expanded to provide traditional relay and captioned telephone services through 24 contracts in 18 states, the District of Columbia and the Island of Saipan and is a provider of internet-based captioned telephone services nationwide.

Hamilton Relay officials said the company focuses on what matters most to relay users: fast connect times and highly professional communication assistants who facilitate calls seamlessly. Most importantly, Hamilton Relay officials say their company understands that each relay user is unique, so instead of just filling a need, the company’s employees empower and enhance lives.

According to Vice President Dixie Ziegler, Hamilton Relay was established after the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

“Telecommunications relay service began to be required as part of the Americans With Disabilities Act that was signed into law back in 1990,” said Ziegler. “Telecommunications relay service is needed to provide the functional equivalent telephone service to individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have difficulty speaking on the phone. When that service became required (by law), we began to provide the service, mostly under contract with states. We hold the contract for Georgia and work very closely with the Public Service Commission, which has been very supportive of our operations through these couple of months when it has been a challenge for us to operate due the the storm damage.”

After a severe storm demolished Hamilton’s Albany relay center, the company and the owner of the building, Carter Properties, immediately established plans to rebuild.

Reconstruction of the center at 2231 Dawson Road is currently under way and is expected to be completed by spring of 2017. In the meantime, Hamilton Relay has secured two temporary locations and has resumed operations in Albany.

“First and foremost, Hamilton is grateful that the employees working at the time the storm hit escaped with only a few minor injuries,” said Ziegler. “We’ve received tremendous support from our employees and from the Albany community. Our thoughts continue to be with all of Southwest Georgia and those who have been affected by the severe weather this winter.”

The Albany Center was established in 2006, and in 2014 began processing captioned telephone calls from the center. Since that time, demand for captioned telephone service has led to continued growth of the Albany facility. In addition to rebuilding, Hamilton Relay is continuing to expand its work force.

According to Albany Call Center Manager David Castellano, Hamilton is looking to add a number of new employees to its Albany location.

“We have about 225 employees at this time,” said Castellano. “We are working on growing the work force here in Albany by adding at least 30 to 50 new employees.”

Captioning Assistant positions are available and include full-time, part-time, days, evenings and weekend shifts. Applications can be completed online at www.WorkForHamilton.com, or in person at Hamilton’s temporary location on the fifth floor in Albany Towers at 235 W. Roosevelt Ave. For more information, contact the company’s Human Resources department via email at [email protected] or call (800) 821-1831.