TROY — A city councilman can be heard using racial slurs in a three-year-old voicemail obtained by the Times Union.

In the 12-second voicemail, Mark McGrath, who represents the Second District, appears to be initially unaware that the call he is making has gone to voicemail.

In the recording, McGrath doesn't appear to direct the slurs at the person he is calling, though it's unclear if he is talking to himself or someone in the room with him. When he realizes he is being recorded, he simply asks for the person to call him back and hangs up.

“That f---ing n----r. F---ing c--n f--k," he says. "Hey ... it’s Mark McGrath, give me a call, will ya?"

The voicemail given to the Times Union had the recipient's name bleeped out.

On Thursday, McGrath initially denied that it was him on the voicemail, and said he never used that language.

“I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “I don’t know who is trying to set me up.”

Screenshots provided to the Times Union show the call came from a cell phone number that belongs to McGrath.

Buy this photo Photo: Lori Van Buren, Albany Times Union Buy this photo Photo: Lori Van Buren, Albany Times Union Buy this photo Photo: Lori Van Buren

McGrath initially declined to even listen to the voicemail. In a second phone call, he asked for a copy. After listening to it, he said he didn’t remember saying those words.

“I’m at a loss,” he said. “Obviously I was alone and very angry. I can’t remember it, I cannot. It certainly wasn’t my finest moment.”

McGrath, who is in his sixth term on the council, was at Thursday night's Troy City Council Finance meeting. During the meeting, he did not address the voicemail.

But following the meeting his fellow council members, when asked about the racial slurs in the voicemail, called it "shocking" and "disgusting."

"Certainly it was highly inappropriate. I was pretty shocked," Council President Carmella Mantello told the Times Union. "People have asked me, 'Are you going to ask him to resign?' I believe that is in his court right now."

Other council members disagreed.

Councilman T.J. Kennedy said he plans on seeking for the resignation of McGrath — saying that due to the comments McGrath made, black residents may no longer feel they are being treated fairly and that this questions "the integrity of McGrath's decisions."

Councilman Anasha Cummings said that just a few hours after the Times Union broke story the mayor's office received complaints and concerns about the voicemail.

"His district does have the highest portion of black residents in the community," Cummings said.

McGrath's district includes a portion of Lansingburgh and the North Central neighborhood. The areas are among the poorest in the city.

McGrath is a Conservative Party member who runs with Republican backing. He is in his sixth term on the council, having won re-election in November 2017 by a single absentee ballot.