Government > Departments > General Services

Department of General Services 

Message from the Commissioner

I am very honored to have been recently appointed Commissioner of the Department of General Services (DGS), the City’s second largest workforce. In my 4-½ years as Deputy Commissioner I have had the privilege of working closely with the 265 dedicated and hard-working men and women of the department many of whom are members of the Blue Collar Union Local #1961, Operating Engineers Local #106 and Teamster’s Local 294.

DGS is responsible for providing a variety of services to the residents of the City of Albany among these are trash & recycling collection, sidewalk replacement, roadwork repair, illegal trash enforcement and forestry. We are committed to delivering these services with the utmost professionalism and highest quality.  To achieve this we continue to implement new training programs, policies and procedures that make the department more responsive and more accessible to the residents of the city.

You can obtain more information about the range of services we provide by consulting the following pages.

Nicholas J. D'Antonio
Commissioner

Overview

The Department of General Services, (DGS), was created in October of 1995 through the consolidation of the previous Department of Public Works with the Engineering Office and the traffic maintenance functions of the Police Dept's Division of Traffic Safety. A second phase of consolidation occurred during January 1997 when the former Department of Parks & Recreation became a division of DGS, (excluding the recreation programs). The third phase occurred in early 1998 when the Office of Special Events & Volunteer Services was added to DGS.  DGS is generally responsible for maintenance of all of the City's infrastructure and facilities, (except the water  & sewer system). 

The Department’s mission is to insure that the City’s streetscapes, parks infrastructure, public facilities and natural resources 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:

Solid Waste Management- Responsible for all solid waste management programs including curbside waste & recycling collection for residential structures with 1 to 4 units. Operation of the Rapp Rd. landfill and shredding plant, which collects a total of 250,000 tons annually.

Recycling Program – Manages one of the regions largest recycling programs with a 42% conversion rate. The recycling program includes operations of the compost facility (collection and sale) and collection of yard waste, hazardous waste, tires, white goods, scrap metal, paper processing, glass, metal and plastic.