ALBANY — Richard LaJoy, the city’s director of Buildings and Regulatory Compliance since 2018, will not be returning to his post after Mayor-elect Dorcey Applyrs takes office later this week.
“We thank Mr. LaJoy for his work, but have decided to go in a different direction,” a transition spokesperson said in a message Tuesday.
LaJoy’s departure comes amid scrutiny surrounding the city’s code enforcement procedures and the efforts it has taken, or failed to take, to hold landlords accountable in the wake of a Dec. 4 fire on Western Avenue that killed two former University at Albany graduate students, Sahaja Udumala, a 24-year-old woman, and a man named Anvesh Sarepalli. LaJoy himself told the Times Union that the building at 241 Western Ave. did not have a residential occupancy permit and had not been inspected by his department since 2021, when the department referred the case to the city’s attorney…