KEN & JANE BITE THE DUST

Well Charter fans, the debates are over, about 80 public informational nights by Saratoga Citizen and 5 nights by SUCCESS.

One good things that Saratoga Citizen did was have 4 or 5 City Manager’s there before and after the debate meeting people and answering any questions citizens had and they were quite busy answering questions before the beginning of the debate.  By the way the Managers were in town as the NYS City Managers Association is holding their annual conference here.

The moderator of the debate Thursday night at the Saratoga Springs High School did a sound job keeping the 4 debaters in check time wise although he let Ken Klotz drift on a little too long sometimes, hoping there was going to be a point made.  Those in attendance should have made up their minds one way or another by now. 

Sadly, one thing that stood out to me and my friends was that SUCCESS had no facts to back up their claims, which they had a perfect forum in which to do so.  Ms. Weihe often gave her opinion of something in the Proposed Charter that was completely explained and proved what she had said was entirely based on her spreading false information, which is a hallmark of SUCCESS.  Time after time she made a comment regarding an issue ‘in the Charter’ and when it was answered by the other side with the reading of that particular question, she still told people that the meaning was wrong.  Through the evening the moderator had to tell her to keep quiet and at one point saved her from complete embarrassment when he quietly to her he read the Charter and she was wrong.  He had to silence her 3 times on just that time alone.

One important piece of information we found out last night is that our Commissioners will pick the transition team, and that operating with a full time professional City Manager with the proper educational background is a hard act to beat.  Our elected Mayor and Council have contact with department heads and can even gather information from employees but cannot tell an employee what work to do or where to do it.  That comes from the Department head who answers to the City manager, this is known as a chain of command, another thing we don’t have under our current form of government.

Before the end of the night the moderator asked the Saratoga Citizen duo if there was any place on the internet that one could find out information on how the manager form of government works.  Between both of them they came up with 5 websites to get information and an offer to speak directly to a City Manager.  When the same question was asked of SUCCESS, all they could say was check with the State Comptroller as they perform a full audit of the City.  What in the heck will they tell a caller about a Charter form of government?  Only, in Saratoga Springs.  I like Ken but he must have been coached by that beauty Karen Klotz, yes the same one that looks like she has a pain in her a**.

All in all it was a good night for the Manager form of government and a pie in the face for SUCCESS.  There will be more to follow.