ALBANY COUNTY — Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy’s State of the County address delivered Thursday night touched on issues both local and national. He announced plans to create a task force to address problems in the county’s foster-care system as well as an executive order that county employees cannot settle harassment or discrimination claims with a non-disclosure agreement.

McCoy, who spoke in the newly completed atrium of the county-owned Times Union Center, noted that the space now connects the events center with a new convention center and with the Empire Plaza and called its construction a “labor of love.”

But, after the discussion of past county initiatives, McCoy delved into the opioid crisis facing the country, saying that there was “no doubt” Albany County was in the midst of it as well. The increasing number of adults facing addiction has led to an increase of children in foster care, he said, announcing that the county would create a task force to resolve this.

“There are so many children that are unintended victims of the opioid crisis,” county spokeswoman Mary Rozak told The Enterprise. Rozak said the county task force would look at the “root causes” for children being in foster care and that McCoy would reach out to groups that have worked with county agencies in the past such as Catholic Charities.

In combating the opioid epidemic, Albany County will be among 200 other plaintiffs testifying before a federal judge in a lawsuit against multiple pharmaceutical industries, McCoy told The Enterprise on Friday. (See related story.)

The county executive also announced draft legislation to have all workers in the county be eligible to accrue paid sick leave, saying that it would ultimately result in healthier workplaces. Rozak said that McCoy has heard from small businesses that are in support of the legislation.

Seven states and Washington, D.C. currently require paid sick leave, including the neighboring states of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, which was the first state to enact such a law.

Last year, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a paid family leave program that took effect this year.

McCoy also announced in Thursday’s speech that that day he had signed an executive order that no settlement with the county involving harassment or discrimination claims will end in a non-disclosure agreement. He will also submit draft legislation for it. Rozak emphasized that those filing complaints can remain anonymous but that the new order ensures that those perpetrating such actions would be held accountable.

The announcement comes after the #MeToo movement, starting last October, led many women to come forward with claims of sexual harassment which in some cases had been silenced with non-disclosure agreements. Lawmakers in several states, including Governor Cuomo in New York, have called for banning these agreements. Cuomo said he would introduce legislation banning non-disclosure agreements in government as well as the use of public funds as hush money.

“I expect that’s going to be well-received,” said County Legislator Mark Grimm, a Republican from Guilderland who has just been named chairman of Personnel Committee. He said he’s the first Republican to hold a committee chairmanship and there is “no doubt” it’s a result of leadership changes in the Democrat-dominated legislature.

Grimm said he was supportive of the ban on non-disclosure agreements, saying that, while sexual harassment scandals are being seen on a federal stage now, they are not new to the State Assembly. The most recent scandal in the State Assembly involved former Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, a Republican, who is now the Rensselaer county executive.

Grimm — one of just 10 Republicans out of 39 county legislators — said he would have liked to see McCoy speak of ways to curb county spending, noting the increase in the county’s budget this year, which went up $25 million to $679 million. Grimm, who is the newly named vice chairman of the legislature’s Audit and Finance Committee, also said that he wanted to hear more ideas on creating jobs at the local level.

But he noted that he was pleased with much of McCoy’s work.

“I do have to give Dan credit,” he said, of the county initiatives.

McCoy also discussed the Access Hilltowns initiative, in which the county set up part-time offices in the town of Berne’s senior center to provide assistance with services such as Medicaid. McCoy said that the county’s Department of Social Services would launch a new initiative this year called “Bridges out of Poverty,” to address various aspects of poverty in the county.

McCoy also mentioned the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy and the recipients of it who may be affected if the program is ended by the federal government. McCoy described a program to provide assistance to DACA recipients that was created in 2016 and said the county has since established a hotline for immigrants in need of assistance, due to what he described as “the Trump administration’s failure to protect DACA.”

Grimm, while saying that it was good such county programs “give everyone a fair shake,” objected to McCoy’s bringing up the federal DACA policy.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea bringing federal issues into it … ,” he said. “You really should stick to county matters.”