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About Us
Welcome to the Department of General Services section of the City of Albany's website.
As you may know, the Department of General Services provides many quality of life services to residents and visitors alike. We face many challenges in the day to day operations of the department however, we respond to those challenges with professionalism and dedication to help support an "All America City destination."
On this page you will find an overview of department functions, responsibilities and programs. Please use it as a starter guide to finding information in a more efficient way.
Overview
The Department of General Services (DGS), was created in October 1995 through the consolidation of the previous:
- Department of Engineering
- Department of Parks and Recreation (excluding the recreation programs and play structures)
- Department of Public Works
- Division of Special Events and Volunteer Services and Sign Fabrication
Mission
The Department's mission is to insure that the City's streetscape, park infrastructure, public facilities and public open spaces are maintained to be functional, safe, clean, attractive and convenient for residents and visitors alike. Functional work areas of DGS are more specifically outlined as follows:
- Central Maintenance
- Code Enforcement
- Engineering
- Fleet Maintenance
- Forestry
- Gardening
- Golf Course
- Graffiti Removal
- Parks
- Recycling
- Snow & Ice Removal
- Solid Waste
- Street Cleaning
- Small Engines
- Concrete
- Blacktop
- Landfill
Central Maintenance
Responsible for the maintenance, repair and renovation of all City owned buildings and facilities. This includes:
- City Hall
- Numerous Fire and Police stations
- Park buildings
- Recreational facilities
- Steven's Farm
Central Maintenance staff consists of plumbers, electricians, carpenters and painters.
Code Enforcement
The Department enforces city codes relating to:
- Emergency residential tree inspections
- Excessive curbside trash
- Graffiti
- Lot clean-ups
- News rack registration
- Snow and ice removal
- Trash and debris
Engineering
The Division of Engineering is responsible for all public works engineering projects in the City. They:
- Conduct engineering investigations
- Prepare drawings, maps, specifications, and cost estimates
- Supervise public construction throughout the City
Fleet Maintenance
The Department of General Services is charged with managing the repair and maintenance of over 400 DGS, Police, and Recreation vehicles and heavy equipment. Fleet Maintenance manages 3 locations; a heavy vehicle and equipment repair shop, a park's engine repair shop, and a quick utility repair shop.
Duties also include the daily reporting and operation of the city's fuel system and maintenance of the DGS facility including shipping and receiving for the entire department.
In addition fleet maintenance is responsible for maintaining over 40 service and maintenance contracts as well the procurement of new vehicles and equipment. This includes:
- Selection overview
- Creating bid specs
- Review of bid opening
- Award and final purchase and receipt of vehicle or equipment
Forestry
Responsible for maintaining over 40,000 trees in the City. Forestry plants an average of 200 trees each year, and removes and trims over 1,000 trees annually. The department operates a street replanting program, to encourage tree planting the city underwrites half the cost of the tree and the resident pays the other half.
Gardening
The DGS Garden Crew currently plants over 180,000 spring bulbs; this includes over 132,000 tulip bulbs. During the summer the garden crew plants over 200,000 annuals and a large variety of tropical plants. There are approximately 300 flower beds along with 300 floral hanging baskets in the City.
Golf Course
DGS operates the Capital Hills at Albany municipal golf course. The 291 acre facility is a year round recreational facility that includes a first class golf course as well as:
- Cross country skiing
- Dog walk
- Hiking
- Jogging
- Snow sledding
Graffiti Removal
DGS has an anti-graffiti program to deal with the ongoing urban decay caused by graffiti. Our graffiti buster van is fully equipped with graffiti removal materials. DGS responds and cleans over 2,000 locations per year.
Parks
Responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of over 55 municipal parks containing over 2,000 acres of land; this does not include recreational play structures.
In addition to parks, DGS is also responsible for the Steven's Farm and over 50 traffic islands, vacant lots and city right-of-way. DGS also operates 4 dog parks in the city where dogs can exercise without a leash.
Recycling Program
Manages one of the regions largest single stream recycling programs with a 50.1% diversion rate. The recycling program includes operations of the compost facility (collection and sale) and collection of:
Glass
- Hazardous waste
- Metal
- Paper processing
- Plastic
- Scrap metal
- Tires
- White goods
- Yard waste
Snow & Ice Removal
Responsible for the timely and efficient removal of snow and ice from City streets and public places following winter weather events.
Refer to the main page of the City of Albany website or call 518-476-7669 (518-476-SNOW) for updated information regarding a snow storm.
Solid Waste Management
Responsible for all solid waste management programs including curbside waste and recycling collection for residential properties with 1 to 4 units.
Additionally the city is responsible for the operation of the Rapp Road Landfill.
Street Cleaning
More than 670 City streets are maintained by specialized street cleaning equipment, hand crews and sidewalk liter vacuums.
Serving as a branch of Fleet Maintenance this division primarily focuses on the repair and maintenance of tools and equipment with a smaller engine. They oversee all of the lawn mowers, weed-whackers, handheld concrete saws, walk behind saws and compactors.
Additional oversight includes salters, generators, chainsaws, carts, and litter vacuums.
Throughout the snowfall season, this division is working around the clock to retain the salters' functionality and allow our plow truck drivers to keep our city streets navigable.
Albany is home to over 270 miles worth of sidewalk area. This is no small task of maintenance, however, our concrete crewmembers are active in making sure our pedestrian walk paths are up-to-date and safe for city-goers.
This division is responsible for the maintenance of Albany’s 1600+ streets and roads. These workers are out in the sun working hard to repave our weathered streets and fill potentially dangerous potholes.
The Rapp Road Landfill is situated on approximately 255 acres of City owned property west of Rapp Road between the New York State Thruway to the south and the Conrail railroad tracks to the north. The footprint of the landfill is currently approximately 100 acres.
Solid waste is brought to the landfill by City owned and operated garbage trucks, other municipally owned trucks, as well as by trucks owned and operated by private sector waste haulers. On average, the landfill accepts approximately 1050 tons per day.