Albany City Commission OKs APD agreement at McIntosh Homes

ALBANY — The Albany City Commission closed out 2016 by approving a mutual aid agreement between the city’s SWAT team and Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, and OKing a contract between the city police department and the Georgia Department of Public Health for police services at an Albany Housing Authority project in downtown Albany.

Albany Housing Authority Director Dan McCarthy and Mayor Dorothy Hubbard praised the city police department’s efforts in integrating its activities into the McIntosh Homes low-income housing project.

“I’ve seen our officers interacting with the residents at McIntosh Homes,” Hubbard said. “That’s the kind of relationship we need to see.”

McCarthy said funding for “Project Integrate,” which includes specific police services, is partially provided through a federal grant approved for the Housing Authority.

“We’ve taken a multifaceted, multiphase approach (to development of the project), and we look forward to continuing our work with APD,” McCarthy said. “There were a number of factors that led to us targeting McIntosh Homes, including the poverty and crime rates. The makeup of the neighborhood also allows us to score points (used in determining grant approval) that make us eligible for grants.”

Ward II Commissioner Bobby Coleman asked McCarthy if the project might be used in other neighborhoods.

“For one thing, we hope that we can piggyback off this project and get additional grants,” McCarthy said. “If it’s successful in one community, it’s easier to replicate. We need to show success, but our intent is not to do this in one place and just quit.”

Asked by Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard if the Housing Authority is susceptible to the funding “chopping block” with a new administration in the White House, McCarthy said, “We’ve already been on the chopping block. Capital improvement dollars have been falling year-to-year.”

Still, Coleman admonished, “We cannot stop with this one project. We must keep going.”

The commission approved the mutual aid agreement with the Marine base that will secure the metro Albany SWAT team’s activation as the secondary tactical response team during crises at the base.

“The Marine base has its own SWAT team now, but this agreement will assure that our unit serves as a secondary response team if needed,” APD Chief Michael Persley said.

During Persley’s update on the city’s Gang Task Force, Ward IV Commissioner Roger Marietta suggested that the city give its public safety personnel a raise. Ward III Commissioner B.J. Fletcher responded to his suggestion.

“We sometimes make statements with the media present that generates attention, but before we put something out there like this, we need to sit down first and figure out where the money to fund it will come from,” Fletcher said.

City Manager Sharon Subadan noted that city public safety personnel had recently received a significant pay increase.

“When we did a pay study last year, our police department was compared to other departments in South Georgia,” Subadan said. “I told (the study provider) that I wanted a comparison to the Atlanta metro area. I want a comparison to the departments that we’re competing with (for personnel).

“I do want to note that, while I support our law enforcement personnel 110 percent, we have to have a balance (fiscally) throughout the city. I do want it on the record, though, that I am in no way slighting our public safety personnel and their needs.”

Also at the meeting, the commission approved an alcohol license application for Savoys Bistro & Lounge, which is located in the former LaJua’s restaurant at 704 Radium Springs Road.

Howard offered words of praise and condolences for the loss of former Dougherty County Commission Chairman Lamar Reese, who passed away Saturday.