Albany auditor outlines equity agenda audit, urges clearer roles and sustained funding

Dorcia Plears, Chief Senior Auditor for the City of Albany, presented the results of an audit of the city’s Equity Agenda legislation and urged clearer roles, dedicated staffing and stable funding to implement the law.

Plears told the Human Rights Commission that the Equity Agenda was born of efforts to address the root causes of gun violence, and that the legislation targets social determinants such as education, economic opportunity, housing, health, criminal justice and the built environment. “As a councilwoman I saw it firsthand … if I feel good about where I live, my decisions may look differently,” Plears said.

The audit found inconsistencies between the city’s stated ranking system for streets and the work actually performed. “Yes, the city does rate the streets. But what we found was that even streets that were rated in good condition were still being repaved over streets that were consistently rated poor,” Plears said, describing data that she said forced the engineering department to rethink allocation practices. Plears said similar patterns appeared in parks and capital project planning.

Plears described the violence-prevention elements of the legislation, including a standing violence-prevention task force…