District 28: Dennis Feeney

Dennis Feeney

ALBANY COUNTY — Democrat Dennis Feeney is running unopposed for a third term representing the 28th District in the Albany County Legislature, which is contained wholly in the town of Guilderland.

Feeney is a lifelong resident of Guilderland and a partner in the Feeney, Centi, and Mackey law firm.

During his eight-year tenure in the legislature, he has served on the Law, Conservation, and Improvement Committee and the Mass Transit Committee.

“I am very happy that the pilot program has started at the jail,” said Feeney. “I think treatment is a better way to go than simply having people serve their time.”

He said it was his understanding that the jail had a “revolving door” for addicts — they get arrested, serve time, leave the jail and commit a crime to fuel their habit, and get arrested again.

“Heroin addiction is a very difficult thing to overcome,” said Feeney. “I would also like to see if more funding is available to assist in providing more people with Narcan.”

He said he would yield to the county’s commissioner of public works on consolidating highway and road services.

“You don’t want a duplication of services,” he said. “The heads of these departments at the town level should sit down together and work on making things more efficient; the people out in the field understand it better because they’re the ones doing the job.”

Feeney called the poverty level in Guilderland “shocking.” He thought it must have to do with the economic collapse in 2008.

“If it is difficult for these people to get into the city we should look at developing a program where services are available at town halls on a monthly basis,” he said. “The social services department might be open to something like that.”

Feeney said his only concern with housing veterans in the old Ann Lee Home is that it is an isolated location.

“I think it is a good idea, but, if a lot of these people are homeless, they tend to be in the city, and you want to be able to locate them to get the services they need,” he said. “I think it is a fantastic thing if we can accomplish that.”

A county nursing home and an in-home care program for the elderly are both essential services, said Feeney.

“If you can keep people in their homes, especially people who don’t have cognitive problems, that’s great, because for them a nursing home environment can be difficult and depressing,” he said. “There sometimes does come a point when people need 24/7 care for their own protection.”

The challenge with in-home care, too, he said, is finding enough health-care aids.

“It can be a very tough job,” he said.

Feeney said he does support raising the minimum wage.

“If people are going to work, you need to make working worthwhile,” he said.

He does not see the practicality of letting each county set its own minimum wage.

“That could create problems, especially when we are all so close to each other,” he said. “I think it’s something to take care of on the state level.”

He also said he did not understand why the minimum wage should be higher for fast-food workers than other workers.

“I think, if someone could go make $15 an hour at McDonald’s, but then make $10 an hour as a home-health aid, you’re going to lose people in those important jobs,” said Feeney.

He said he supports the revised charter.

“A lot of the issues were vetted completely by the charter commission we put together,” he said. “There is a process that has been put in place for doing the charter in the future.”

He called McCoy’s refusal to sign the charter “typical politicizing.”

“If he had a different plan for it, why didn’t he propose it?” he asked.

Feeney said he thinks the county’s regulations on oil trains are appropriate because “they are potentially very, very dangerous.”

He said there was also a resolution passed at a recent meeting that may make it illegal for a company not to notify Albany if there is an oil spill.

“We need to make management responsible for reporting it to the authorities so they can react as quickly as possible,” he said.

The “nanny laws” should not be legislated on a county level, he said.

“The sponsors have good intentions and I usually support the bills, but I really think these things should be done on a state or federal level,” said Feeney. “It can be confusing when different counties have different laws.”

Feeney said he is proud that the legislature has been able to “hold the line on any tax increases,” and is also proud of what has been done to cut the deficit at the nursing home.

He also championed the land bank and the expansion of the rail trail.

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