SCOTT JOHNSON”S BITE IN THE ASS

It looks like former Mayor Scott Johnson’s 11^th 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. 21^st 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 11^th 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.