TROY – The state attorney general’s public integrity unit has subpoenaed personnel files, deeds and other records to present to a Rensselaer County grand jury that is to hear testimony Jan. 24 in an investigation of a city land transaction, city and county officials said Tuesday.

The records are required to be returned to the attorney general’s office or the grand jury by Jan. 17, officials said.

Testimony is expected to be heard Jan. 24 regarding the city’s $3,500 sale of the 1.85-acre wooded parcel at 226 Cemetery Road to former City Engineer Andrew Donovan in 2015 and the city’s 2016 cancellation of a reverter clause by which the municipality could take back ownership of the property.

The purchaser of a property is expected to make improvements to a property to get the city to release its hold on the deed. After the reverter clause was eliminated for 226 Cemetery Road, Donovan listed the land for sale for $65,000 when he left his city position. Donovan had planned to build a home on the site but didn’t.

The City Council Republicans filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office in 2017 after the Times Union reported the situation surrounding Donovan’s purchase from the city. An attorney general’s investigation into the Cemetery Road property resulted in James E. Lance III, a city code enforcement officer, being charged in City Court in September 2018 for felony counts of grand larceny as a public corruption crime, corrupting the government, tampering with public records, offering a false instrument for filing, falsifying business records and defrauding the government. He was also charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

The investigation appears to be continuing with the round of subpoenas issued last week.

A subpoena dated Jan. 3 directed the county to turnover copies of the deed signed by former Mayor Lou Rosamilia in 2015 transferring the land to Donovan and the release signed in 2016 by Mayor Patrick Madden, county officials said.

The city also was subpoenaed Jan. 3 to release documents including policies on land sales and personnel records, Corporation Counsel James Caruso said. Sharon Martin, the city assessor, and Dave Sheeran, a code enforcement officer, have been subpoenaed, Caruso confirmed.

Councilman Mark McGrath said the attorney general’s office recently has questioned him about the city’s adoption of new procedures rules for handling sales of tax-foreclosed properties. McGrath declined to comment on whether he was subpoenaed.

The city’s procedures for selling tax delinquent property have been questioned since they were instituted by former Mayor Harry Tutunjian. Previously, parcels were auctioned to the highest bidder. In in an attempt to see properties developed, the city adopted a proposal method that include weighing residency and plans for revitalizing the property.