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Phone Hours
Monday-Friday 8:30a-5:00p
Walk-In Hours
Monday-Friday 8:30a-4:30p
Report to SeeClickFix
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Amanda Ahrens
Fair Housing OfficerPhone: (518) 807-1998Amanda’s mission is to prevent housing discrimination and promote equity. Amanda takes in housing discrimination complaints, conducts investigations, and engages in mediation between landlords/tenants or buyers/lenders. Before joining the City of Albany, Amanda served as a paralegal for the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, where she launched a pilot program to help individuals living with HIV/AIDS learn about their benefits, and conducted advocacy to help people apply and recertify for SNAP benefits. “Consistently throughout my career, my mission has been to help people” Amanda says. Outside of work, Amanda enjoys reading, crocheting, watercolors, cooking, and spending time with her daughter and her three cats.
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Shane Brownell
Information ClerkPhone: 518-434-CITY (2489)Shane enjoys working with the public and helping to resolve problems for residents. He describes his work as “helping people get done what they need to get done.” Shane answers the phone, directs people to the right department, answers questions, and puts resident issues into SeeClickFix. Before joining the City of Albany, Shane worked for Saratoga Hospital as an imaging assistant in the MRI Department, and as an office manager in a chiropractor’s office. Outside of work, Shane watches and plays sports, particularly the little-known sport of disc golf. Shane loves animals; he runs a dog-sitting business and has four cats.
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Naomi Clarke
Community Relations CoordinatorPhone: 518-540-2471Naomi oversees the SeeClickFix system for the City, ensuring efficient responses and accountability to constituents. Naomi also handles social media and other communications for Neighborhood Services. She was raised in Albany, and was drawn to human services at the Sister Maureen Joyce Food Pantry and Soup Kitchen, where she gained a “deeper understanding of the struggles people face.” She previously worked for Healthy Alliance, where she connected thousands of underserved New Yorkers to over 500 community resources that provide healthcare, food, housing and more.
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Michelle Goodwin
Information Clerk IIIPhone: 518-434-CITY (2489)Before joining the Neighborhood Services, Michelle worked with the Department of General Services (DGS) for 23 years. While there, she did frontline constituent service, helping the public connect to all DGS functions, from trash issues to property maintenance. In Neighborhood Services, she provides similar services, but to staff and departments throughout the City of Albany. “In my years of government service, I gained a wide range of knowledge about city government and customer service,” Michelle says. “I enjoy working with the public and helping them receive any of the city services they need.”
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Ashley Hilaire
Housing Services AdvocatePhone: 518-948-6641Ashley was hired with a grant through Cities RISE, a program through the NY State Attorney General’s Office that funds innovative housing and code enforcement programs to fight blight. Ashley’s focus is on informing and assisting tenants and landlords regarding their rights and responsibilities. Previously, Ashley dedicated 10 years towards youth and families in crisis, serving as a Youth Care Worker, a Crisis Intervention Specialist, Case Manager, and Program Administrator for the Runway and Homeless Youth Services Department. “The same problems I saw that led to youth homelessness are the same problems I see in housing across the City,” says Ashley, who believes “I was placed on this earth to serve people in need.” She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., and outside of work, she likes to listen to music, shop, travel and spend time with her loved ones.
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Erin Johanns
Love Your Block FellowPhone: 518-434-5281Erin works on the Love Your Block program, which aims to address blight and also make repairs to front porches and stoops. She is passionate about environmental justice, creating community connections, and grassroots activism. She has had a wide range of employment experience from working on organic farms, to Capital Roots, the Honest Weight Co-op, as well as teaching and overseeing youth programs. Erin is a graduate of SUNY Potsdam. In her off hours, she enjoys gardening, volunteering, reading, and spending time with her cat, Buddy.
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Lori Kochanski
Neighborhood SpecialistPhone: 518-419-0381Lori says her attitude toward the people she knows and meets in her life is to "treat your neighbor as you want to be treated." She believes in working alongside people to solve civic problems in their lives and in their communities. Lori is passionate about neighborhoods. She is involved in Albany's public libraries, and cares about community gardens and the arts, especially the Albany Barn, where she has a fiber arts studio.
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Tabora Marcus
Neighborhood SpecialistPhone: 518-419-2010Tabora lives in West Hill and is currently President of the West Hill Neighborhood Association. She has been both a tenant and a landlord in the City, and is committed to neighborhoods that are underserved and working to guide people into home ownership.
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Folake Oyedokun
Neighborhood SpecialistPhone: 518-419-1402Since graduating from SUNY Albany, Folake has gained experience in her community by participating in the FOCUS Churches Breakfast Program and with Mothers Out Front, advocating there for Environmental Justice. She is committed to building more understanding and trust between community members and city officials, helping to better the quality of life in their neighborhoods.
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Livesey Pack
Bloomberg Harvard City Hall FellowPhone: 518 948-7363Livesey is a Senior Fellow at the City of Albany, assisting with strategic projects across the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services and the Department of Administrative Services. As a recent graduate of the urban planning program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Livesey is interested the role of policy, planning and community engagement to create resilient and just communities.
Prior to graduate school, Livesey worked for the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association and the City of San Francisco’s Office of Civic Innovation. She began her career working in affordable housing and homelessness services, so she is excited to return to work on these issues in her role at the City. Livesey is new to Albany and the Capital Region, and looks forward to exploring the area through hiking, biking, and eating.
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Maribel Ramos Rodriguez
Neighborhood SpecialistPhone: 518-419-1515A graduate of SUNY Albany, Maribel has worked at Albany Medical Center connecting patients to needed community resources. And at the Albany College of Pharmacy, she worked to help students find the resources they needed to stay in school. An immigrant from Mexico, she has provided support to her family to help them succeed here, and sees herself now as extending similar support to Albany residents so that they can build neighborhoods that are thriving.
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Lisa Rodriguez
Information ClerkPhone: 518-434-CITY (2489)Before her employment with the City, Lisa worked for 20 years in various administrative services positions in the private sector. In 2017, she came to Albany, and during COVID, she launched her own business as a Virtual Assistant, providing a variety of essential administrative services for small businesses. She did everything from administrative work and customer service to media management and marketing. “I see my role as a connector,” Lisa says, “bringing Albany residents to all kinds of resources they need. Often I’m educating them about services they aren’t aware are even available, from quality of life assistance to emergency services.”
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Samuel Wells
Neighborhood Stabilization CoordinatorPhone: 518-694-4813Sam leads the effort to make the City's vacant buildings habitable by preventing homes from deteriorating, as well as assisting on related housing issues. "My focus is finding solutions to vacant buildings and getting them re-occupied," Sam says. "It's a challenging task." Sam notes that the vacant building problem is multi-layered, with solutions dependent on the condition of a building, where it's located, as well as ownership and legal issues. He has a Bachelor’s Degrees in Environmental Design & Political Science, and a Master’s in Urban & Regional Planning, all from SUNY Buffalo.Sam is also a licensed drone pilot, a board member of the Albany County Land Bank, and is the City lead for the Love Your Block program. Outside of work, you will likely find Sam playing hockey, working on his old North Albany house, or spending time with family & friends.
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Alex Word
Neighborhood SpecialistPhone: 518-419-1457Originally from Fort Collins, Colorado, Alex came to settle in Albany to be closer to family – and for the greenery and seasonal climate here. As far as his position, he says, “This is just what I wanted to be doing. I love working in cities -- and I enjoy meeting people and helping to build stronger urban communities.”