ALBANY COUNTY — Legislator Bryan Clenahan of the 30th District, in Guilderland, has made it his mission to see the Crime Victim and Sexual Violence Center made part of the Albany County charter.

The center provides community education; support for victims of bullying, domestic violence, and sexual assault; and hotlines for suicide prevention and sexual assault.

“In the previous, Breslin administration, there were multiple efforts to close the center or to roll it into other departments,” he told The Enterprise, referring to Michael Breslin who preceded Daniel McCoy as county executive.

The last time that that happened, he said, the legislature restored the department in the budget and then passed a resolution requiring the county executive to maintain the center and all its services.

Since that time, he continued, the department has “thrived and grown and been tremendous.” McCoy has been very supportive, Clenahan says. They are both Democrats.

But the center could still be at risk if a future county executive wanted to target it, according to Clenahan; it has been vulnerable because it has not been written into the charter.

On Election Day, Nov. 3, 2015, Albany County residents defeated a proposal for a new charter that would, among other things, have changed the status of the center, making it part of the county charter.

Clenahan told The Enterprise at the time that he had added the line about the center to the larger charter amendment proposal. And he vowed that, if the entire proposal did not pass, he would introduce the idea as a stand-alone measure.

Clenahan has made good on his promise; the stand-alone measure is scheduled for a vote in the county legislature Monday night.

A public hearing on the issue was held March 29. No members of the public spoke on the issue at that time, Clenahan said.

The public will have another chance to speak at the meeting of the full legislature on Monday night. There will be a public comment period at 6:30 p.m., at which any resident of Albany County can speak.

After the close of public comments, Clenahan said, this measure will be considered in a special meeting of the law committee; he expects that the committee will probably positively recommend the local law. If that does happen, it would then go to the full legislature for a vote.

After that, Clenahan said, it would need to go to McCoy for his signature or veto.

The center has it roots in a rape crisis center founded by a group of volunteers in Albany in 1974; the next year it became a county department. In 1989, the center got a grant from the state’s Crime Victims Board and began advocacy services for survivors of violent crimes. The agency changed its name to the current one in 2001 to reflect its dual mission.

The center helps county residents of any age who have been assaulted at any time in their lives, even decades ago. The counseling, for family members, too, is free and confidential.

The center has been successful, Clenahan said, in the last few years in increasing its grant funding and being able to expand its services as a result. Charter status would make it easier still for the center to get grants, Clenahan said, because grantors “will know that the center is going to be around indefinitely.”

That assurance of permanency will also help to reassure potential clients, he said, who will “be more comfortable knowing that the center is going to be around as long as they need it.”