The Albany Common Council held a public budget hearing Monday night.
Two issues took center stage Monday night at City Hall. One, the call for "Right to Counsel," had the panel listening to residents who say Albany has a serious eviction problem.
Chestnut Street resident Andy Kaier says more than 700 new evictions were filed during the third quarter of 2022.
"It should go without saying that these families facing eviction are amongst the most vulnerable residents of our city and are also in general the least economically equipped to afford legal representation in eviction court," said Kaier. "Indeed, the city's data also indicates that less than 3% of tenants facing eviction this year have had legal representation in eviction court, compared to more than 95% of landlords. You don't need to be a lawyer to know that's not fair. The city must take all necessary steps to ensure families can stay in their homes and have access to legal aid and representation when they are facing the perils of eviction court, and I urge the council to add funding to the budget for this purpose."
The second issue involves the Community Police Review Board, an independent body that reviews complaints and conducts independent investigations into incidents of alleged misconduct by officers of the Albany Police Department. In September the CPRB sent a letter to City Hall requesting expanded access to police information and $2.8 million dollars in funding to operate.
Board Chair Nairobi Vives appeared before the council Monday:
"I just want you all to know that day in and say out we work tirelessly to bring our mission to fruition, which is to rebuild trust and accountability in the city," Vives said. "To give this city's oversight board that it has been working for so long. For decades Albany has been trying to get this right. We cannot get it right if we don't have the proper funding. To have an effective oversight body in this city, we need the money to do it. We need your support to do it."
Democratic Mayor Kathy Sheehan’s budget proposal released in early October funded the CPRB at the statutory minimum of 1% of the police budget, roughly $598,000.
Kaier criticized the budget being set within a few thousand dollars of the absolute minimum required by law.
"The will of the voters was not for a minimum dollar figure," Kaier said. "It was for a CPRB with actual authority. The amount requested by the CPRB is well in line with national standards and recommendations. As a representative of the people of Albany, it is critical that the Common Council take steps to rectify these situations, ensuring the people's voice is heard and the CPRB is fully funded and on a path to success."
The budget plan is under review by the Common Council. Council President Corey Ellis says councilors will meet with the finance committee and see if they can come up with way to increase funding for the CPRB.
"I think last night, it allowed the whole council as a whole to hear what advocates in constituency groups are really feeling about how do we move forward," said Ellis. "I don't want to dismiss the CPRB. But also, number of people came in front and talked about the right to counsel and having attorneys to help to be there, right for counsel for people who are going through the eviction process. We heard a number of people talk about it as a court hearing. And as I stated last night, if we have a court hearing and a just court case, how can we not present those folks, they have the right to have counsel, especially if it's court hearing, no one should be in court, without the right to counsel and their willingness or unwillingness to pay should not be a deterrent to that, to right to counsel."
The CPRB conducts public meetings the second Thursday of every month.
