It looks like former Mayor Scott Johnson’s 11th
hour mass appointments to virtually every City Board is starting to
unravel. The day is December 31, 2013
and Scott Johnson make mass appointments to upcoming vacancies on City Boards
and Commissions, thereby taking away the right of the incoming Mayor, Joanne
Yepsen to name her own appointments. The
only thing that Johnson didn’t know about was that an appointed person had only
30 days to sign their ‘oath of office’.
The last 3 board members appointed by Johnson to the Housing Authority
BOD failed to follow the law and sign the oath and had to be removed from
Housing Authority Board of Directors.
The 3 (Ken Ivins, Al Callucci and Lou Schneider could reapply along with
any other citizen wishing to serve on the board and had until Friday Nov. 21st
at the close of business to turn in a resume.
Mayor Yepsen follows not only an announcement of an
appointee at a Council meeting but also has that person come to the front of
those attending or viewing the meeting, introduces the appointee and has them
sign the ‘oath of office’, making it a little ceremony for those that will be
serving on City Boards and Commissions.
The Saratogian noted that every Commission & Board member will be
reviewed to make sure every member has signed the proper legal document. The Scott Johnson 11th hour
appointments may be a silver bullet to those appointed just because of his not
wanting Yepsen to have any chance for her own appointments. This is how he ran the Mayor’s office for 6
years and should be one reason his reign gets lost in Saratoga history.
Arthur Einig Saratoga Springs wrote a letter to the editor
in the Saratogian last week outing the DPS saying “In short, they extracted $30
from my pocket and put it into theirs. They did it to at least five other
people too. There were probably more extractions to others earlier and later in
the day and it’s reasonable to imagine that this goes on week after week. It’s
a cash cow for the city, so why should they see it as unjust or immoral?”
It started for Mr. Einig on a “bright and sunny September
days, I drove my wife, my mother (who just moved here) and my sister-in-law
(her first visit to Saratoga) to see and shop at our wonderful farmers’ market
at High Rock. The place was packed. Parking was tighter than tight. I let them
off and rolled slowly away to find a parking spot. All the spots on both sides
of the street were taken, so I turned into the city parking lot by the Mouzon
House.” He goes on to say that when
ready to leave he noticed a parking ticket on his windshield. Every car parked
on the curve was likewise ticketed.
The day of his court
appearance he was found guilty and paid “the unjust, unethical ticket (I call
it a dirty tricket). The judge allowed me to question the ticket-writing
officer, who admitted there was no “No Parking” sign in that area and that the
city had no plans to put one up. She also admitted that cars were ticketed in
that area often during the summer.”
After paying his ticket he had asked the clerk to have the
person in charge to please call him to discuss why there isn’t a parking sign
there and if they plan on putting one up and since that day in September he has
heard from no one.
The idea that the City would use this area as a money trap
and was even backed up by the officer that wrote the ticket doesn’t sound like
Saratoga, or does it? Are we stooping to
this level to grab money from Saratogians and visitors alike? Where the heck are we heading? Money traps, water hookup fees waived amounting
to over 1 million dollars for special developers, City property being used by
businesses for private parking. Welcome
to the new Saratoga.
