IT’S GETTING TO BE TOO MUCH!

Is it me, or is it the closer we get to the election, the Republican candidates are starting to get a little squirrely? 

In the Saratogian the other day Shauna Sutton-Dowd was given the praise of “Shauna Sutton was part of the team that increased parking in downtown Saratoga, saved millions of taxpayer dollars through contract negotiations, completed the Spring Run Trail and opened the Saratoga Lake Waterfront Park to name just a few of her accomplishments.”  The writer first says she was part of a team the closed with the list of HER accomplishments.  This seems to be the crux of this tag-team duo administration, The Mayor and Shauna take credit of everything good but not any of the crazy stuff and there has been plenty of that.

Do you remember when you used to walk into the Mayor’s office and be able to speak to the secretary and ask to see the Mayor or just ask a question?  Well the first thing this duo did was build a wall.  It seems they wanted people to know who the top dogs were and keep their employers (taxpayers) out. 

Remember when the Rec Center was being built and inferior building products were being used and a certain building inspector would not pass that portion of the job?  It was said at the time that the Deputy hired this engineer but had something over him.  She waived that piece of information and told him to pass it and when he said no, he was gone.  The administration then wanted to hire an engineer from Albany to pass the work but she declined (I wonder why).  Also, why did they never think about putting showers in a gym, or outdoor parking for that matter?

Next, it was another case of the disappearing building inspector, when a job at the Woodlawn Parking garage could not get approval because of a problem, the City Engineer vanished and a new inspector was hired; remember the architect who designed the garage was operating under building requirements of the State of Ma., all of these capers were reportedly approved by the Mayor in Wanting, (yes, I know wanting) who seemingly looked like she couldn’t get her way and pushed people out rather than deal with the problems.

Then things in the City got real bad for Sutton's department.  Building permits were not being issued for City projects, and people wanted to find out if the information they were hearing about all these wonderful things were true.  As a taxpayer of the City you can go to City Hall and ask to see a myriad of public records, well that’s how it is supposed to work in America, but not in Saratoga.  A ban was put in place by the duo (Mayor Johnson and Deputy Sutton-Dowd), that to see any information that you have a right to see, you had to file a FOIL request using a certain form filling it out and it had to be sent in our  City Attorney to see if what you want was justified for you to view, 99 ½% of the time it was and there was only a weeks delay in getting information but this was a tactic used by the Duo chatting they have an OPEN GOVERNMENT.

Now, we have a person in John Arpei who thinks he is running for Commissioner of Finance but in reality he is running for Commissioner of Accounts.  There has not been much talk from Mr. Arpei or about Mr. Arpei but when he does speak it’s always about the Finance Dept. and not the Accounts Department.  I wish he would stay on course and find out which office he is running for.

It was said to be overheard in Sperry’s one night that Shauna Sutton-Dowd is in favor of Casino gambling in our community, something very unsettling about that tid bit.  Now let's see her change her mind.

Remember that Al Calucci is in line for Wirth's Deputy.  That's scary for even me, your Captain.Al

WELL PETE MADE ME DO IT

I got back from a short vacation yesterday and some fellow posted that everything that has happened in the last 6 days passed me by, but nothing I feel important has passed by in 6 days worth writing about.  This person (who I have named Pete) insists my name is Ric, so I’ll humor him or her for a while, as I said before; I get a chuckle when I hear names dropped regarding who Captain America is, so far nobody has picked the right combo, but keep those cards and letters coming in.

I do read the paper when I am away either on vacation or business so really it’s the same old hash of Shauna hating non Natives etc.  Ken Ivins did make a funny statement that with a 19-3-1 Republican majority on the Board of Supervisors he thinks he should be elected not for what he can do for Saratoga but by adding another Republican, the Board can get more done.  Where did that come from?  Yes, in the last 6 days Skip Scirocco has gotten a challenge from Bill McTygue, but that isn’t new news, that has been in the loop for 2 weeks.  Maybe now we might be able to remove dandelions off the list as Saratoga’s City flower.

I did see Dick Wirth walking down Broadway to meet with his think tank at Uncommon Grounds and he looked very happy as he was bobbing his head up and down (it reminded me of his days at the Council table). 

Mayor Johnson, voted his conscience (with a no vote) a few times tonight (he must have found it behind the bar at Sperry’s), I find it funny, not that he found his conscience at Sperry’s but that he is still not thinking rationally when voting.  He is showing Shauna how to play the mind games with the opposition.

What do you think?  Should we have last call at 2am year round except between 6/1 – 9/15 when last call is at 4am, or do you think we are the hoot toot tootinist City in the good old US of A?

Have you seen the Mayor’s Secret Service detail blending in behind Stewarts, across from the new 11 screen movie plex?  Have you noticed how his detail has grown since he has been Mayor? 

Last night the Council voted to hire 2 more police officers, good job Council.  I don’t think the Charter stipulates that officer’s live in Saratoga, so look for 2 police officers who may be out of a job but are fully trained and can start immediately, now can we restart the DARE program that Wirth eliminated?  We are now one of the leading Cities in the nation of student binge drinking both in Junior and Senior High Schools, a designation we don’t want.  The only no vote came from Mayor Johnson, whose grasp on reality is starting to worry some people.  I think he knew this was going to be his last term in office (he would have been beaten by Yepsen) so he bowed out.  That with some other personal demons is leaving him look dazed and confused.  He also voted no on the gun issue, and the ambulance proposal.

There was some other good news from last nights meeting but it also comes with a question mark.  The DPW appointment of an arborist position was passed.  This was long overdue.  The position will be provisional for 1 year at which time that employee must take a Civil Service test and place in the top 3.  The thing that bothers me about this is a few months ago the idea was brought forth by Commissioner Madigan that the City had the monies to create a FULL TIME in house Human Resource person as called for in the Charter.  The Mayor eliminated the full time position and contracted with an outside firm to work 20 hours a week at $75,000.00 or more for the person’s service.  First of all, our City staff is large enough for at least a full time HR person.  The Mayor, as an excuse, did not want a provisional employee appointed for the HR position reasoning that the position would have to wait until the next Civil Service test then a person from the top 3 from the list, then last night he voted for a provisional arborist.  Then the Mayor stated,  that since he voted against the City taking over the ambulance service he has to be consistent and vote no on the  EMS Operating Certificate motion,   Why the inconsistencies between personnel and ambulance?

CAN’T CATCH A BREAK

It seems the Republican Party is having a hard time getting candidates to run for office.  They have backed 2 losers in Ken Ivins and Dick Wirth.  When I say losers, I don’t mean it as a reference to their personal character (although that may be one reference, but not now); I mean to say that they were beaten on their records, so it appears that the R. Party will have to back these 2 announced candidates.

There is also a rumor floating around that Shauna ‘of the dead’ Sutton will have to take the endorsement of Mayor because of a lack of volunteers for the position and that she will do so while being backed by  Johnson money.  If this is going to happen, it will all but guarantee Yepsen a victory as Sutton’s husband and family would not vote for her, I am not one for political advice but Shauna, stay in the cemetery.

The Wirth run is interesting.  He was beaten, not so much from his lack of being at meetings (he was there but his mind was in the female officer’s shower room) and his failure to being anything but a pure puppet of John Herrick and Scott Johnson.  It was embarrassing when the Council had to wake him up so he could vote on a piece of legislation.  I think the only reason the Party endorsed him is (a) they had no one else and (b) he said he would run, with or with out Party support.

Wirth’s opponent, Chris Mathiesen, won the election because of the promise’s he would carry out.  He has carried out those promises and more, maybe a little too verbosely but performed as he promised.  His call to turn back the closing hours of bars failed to garner even a look by our County Board of Supervisors but  resulted in the Mayor of Glens Falls to pitch the same idea to the Warren County BOS, who last week voted to do just that, so now the proposition will go to the State with County approval.

Also, shouldn't it be a prerequisite that a candidate announce his or her Deputy before the election?  How do we know that the Deputy will be qualified for the position and not just a politicaly appointed position, heavens knows we have had enough of patronage attempts at the County level

I was wrong in predicting that Ivins would run against John Franck.  The order from Harper came down that he would not get the backing of the Party if he pursued that avenue.  If Ivins runs on his past record as he said in his announcement, he is in trouble from the get go and his statement that more Republicans are needed on a Board that is comprised of 19 Republicans to 3 Democrats and 1 Independence party members, (nothing against Republicans) are needed to get things done at the County level, must have been said after the cocktail hour.

Let us also not forget Johnson’s, Harper’s and Scirocco’s Watergate.  This will be huge at election time.

So, that leaves rumored Democrat Peter Martin to run for County Supervisor, a candidate who has not been named yet as Sciricco’s opponent, Andrew Jarosh a designated hitter for any position and opponents for Madigan and Franck.

The picture should become clearer by the middle of May.

COMPROMISE

When things work out, you have to give credit where credit is due.

Your Captain was at the beginning of the Council meeting tonight and it was good news that a compromise was reached regarding the Comprehensive Plan Committee.  The Council led by Commissioner Franck had said from the beginning that the Council needed more input and as past CPC’s showed this to be the way it was done.

The Mayor to his credit did indeed drop people from his Committee and each of the 4 Commissioners appointed 2 of their own picks that were added to the Committee.  It was with great pleasure that one of the Mayor's drops was Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation Executive Director Samantha Bosshart.  That one almost feels like a demolition.

I know this result pleases me and it should also please the citizen’s that were opposed to the first Committee, now if you don’t like the choices, call the Council.

LEGACY OR LUNACY?

The City of Saratoga Springs Republican Party is looking hard to find a legacy for Mayor Scott Johnson with no luck.  The Recreation Center that was supposed to be a money maker for the City in its first couple of years is bleeding money big time.  The newest Parking Garage was the idea of a past City Council as was the Lake Front.  The things I will remember about him and his cracker jack terms would be his haughty attitude to fellow Commissioner’s and citizens of Saratoga, his suppression of the citizens right to vote on the Charter issue, having to FOIL any bit of public information from his office or the Building Dept., and the issuance of orders for employees to not give out any public information that citizens asked for.  The Building Inspector debacle will also cast his terms as a dark spot.  There were questionable decisions that were made regarding issues at the Recreation Center and the new Parking Garage which resulted in the Inspectors being let go after not bending to the will of the Mayor or Deputy Sutton, and if I remember correctly, after the City’s Inspector wouldn’t pass an item the Mayor wanted passed at the Recreation Center he was let go and an Inspector from Albany was called in and even she agreed with the City Inspector’s ruling and against the wishes of Johnson/Sutton. Should we trust a Mayor who, with only the Commissioner of DPW makes a back room deal with Wilton to get our precious water?

 Today another attempt was made regarding the sanctity of Johnson’s decisions. 

Ms. Sandi Cross, a current City Republican Committee person and former President of the City Republican Woman’s Committee and one who was taken under the wing of former County Chairman Jasper Nolan.  She is Saratoga County Director of the Office of the Aging (appointed by the County Supervisors yearly), and is now under the service of current chairman John Herrick. Ms. Cross was also the campaign manager for Skip Scirocco for a few campaigns.

Director Cross has penned a Letter to the Editor in Sunday’s Saratogian, stating “City Democrats are obstructionists”.  I don’t think anything could be farther from the truth. 

Ms. Cross is upset because the 3 Democrats who with popular support will not cave into Mayor Johnson’s elite appointments.  While the majority of the Council agrees that all the appointments (some who don’t even live in Saratoga Springs) are fine people, I don’t see the relevance.  I feel the appointments are good people looking out for their own interests (nothing wrong with that, if you can get away with it).  The Democrats however, would like to see citizens from different areas of the City that would be affected by the changes that will be envisioned by this Plan, not too much to ask for.  The Mayor has assured the Council as well as interested citizens that they will have their say during comment periods before meetings (we all know how that works at Council meetings), the Mayor will also set up a web site so citizens can ask questions, keeping them away from meetings. Ms. Cross and Mayor Johnson, we have plenty of caring and smart every day citizens that can be committee appointees, why even keep the consultant to keep the committee on track.

In the first paragraph I stated that Mayor Johnson was suppressing voter’s rights according to Saratoga Citizen in not allowing a lawful proposal to be put on the ballot while spending at least over $70,000.00 and very costly City employee time in fighting Saratoga Citizen in Court and losing both lawsuits.  The majority Party at the time (Republican) had no qualms about siding with the Mayor that time.

So, Ms. Cross accuses the Democrats of being obstructionists, while the citizens are clamoring for equal representation on the CPR.  Ms. Cross accuses the Democrats of being obstructionists because they don’t feel the $65,000.00 consultation fee is a tad too high for what the Mayor wants to bestow on a friends Company.  It is said, just follow the money, The Mayor spending well over $70,000.00 to outside Attorney’s & internal employee time devoted to keeping citizens from voting on an issue and wanting to spend $60,000.00 + on consultation when citizens can’t even have a say on who should represent their interests.

 It’s no fun to keep writing about County or City Republican Party lunacy.  The past 2 weeks have shown us some of the bad side of Republican strong arm politics regarding job spots, things are not what they used to be.  There are no more political bosses, people who care can raise their voices and make things happen.  Citizens of Saratoga, let’s raise our voices and demand equal representation on the Comprehensive Planning Review Committee, remove some of the special interest reps, businesses or non profits  that pay no taxes and put on some good, smart and willing citizens of our City.

MAYOR FOR WATERGATE? FOLLOW THE MONEY

Well, tonight’s Council meeting was filled with presentations.  The Comm. of PS gave his ambulance report along with the Fire Chief and the Mayor could not believe it.  The deal works fine and the Department also updated their 5 year projections based on a solid year of experience.  The Mayor however, drilled the Chief and tried his lawyer best to rattle him by throwing misinformation at him but the Chief did fine and provided all the factual answers to the Mayor.

Then it was the Lame Duck’s turn.  He had to put together a presentation for his failed Comprehensive Plan Committee, because the Council and residents are sick of the Mayor appointing his friends while turning his back on citizens of Saratoga to have representation on a Committee to set the City’s path for the future.  Wait, he did say he was going to set up a web site so citizens could email concerns to be read by the Committee, wow.  He also relented to let the Council choose 1 person each and said he would allow the choices to sit on the Committee; the Council met the Mayor’s presentation with quite as the Mayor was pleading with them to accept the Consultant and his picks.  Skip has already chosen the Superintendent of Schools who lives in Wilton and was an appointee of the Mayor.  The other out of town friend of the Mayor who is on the Committee is from Washington County and works for the State (thinking of running for a State office Mayor Johnson and need some help)?  Remember, this is the same Mayor that said Mayor Keheen’s Comp Plan was DOA when he took office and sits on his shelf to this day.  That Plan was a good one developed by a consultant and more city appointees.  The Mayor also mentioned that the nearby towns should have input in the process because we should be good neighbors, remember that 3 of the Mayor’s picks are from Wilton and that town was granted, by the Mayor and Commissioner Scirocco to buy Saratoga water, water which we can ill afford to sell.  Remember also that it was the Mayor who extended the number of homes getting water from 18 to 25, there is also 180 acres for development there so I guess the homes built will also put a strain on the water we have now, especially since we are losing wells at a scary rate.  Just remember the names and positions of those who did or will allegedly benefit in Watergate, Tom Lewis, D. Harper (attorney for the owner of property and City Republican Chairman) and it is said the owner of our local McDonalds.

Talking about chicken, one hairy blogger posted on an article at the Saratogian’s site, saying that the Rec. Center should be named after Scott Johnson as he will go down as the best Mayor in Saratoga Springs history.  I think that they should put a statue of Johnson on top of the building with him holding a bucket. Forget that, he would look like Col. Sanders and we know how much birds like chicken.

As Thor has said many times: hello, follow the money.

DRIVING MISS DAISY

Well, it seems that the Mayor has given another order and Commissioner Scirocco has done the deed.

First, we want to welcome the Mayor back from his minor surgery (the doctor’s had to remove a sliver from his butt that he received from a bar stool at his restaurant (he has to pad his seat).

However, to the stories:

 It seems the Mayor who is in contract negotiations with DPW again is getting a little testy and groveling to some of the DPW Commissioner’s pleas.  The foreman from the East Side who was arrested for DWI or DUI, I can’t keep my letters straight, cannot drive a truck anymore and word has it is that he will most likely loose his license for 90 days at his court hearing on 3/20.  An inside source buzzed that the last 2 snow storms we had that needed plowing, the Commissioner had to “hire” him a chauffeur (the Deputy Commissioner) to plow his route while the foreman sat in the passenger seat, collecting his foreman’s pay rate.  I hope as in past practices that when a foreman is suspended from performing those duties and has to be downgraded to laborer, the pay scale also goes down until such time his job title is restored if indeed it ever is.  This is something key to watch because it is a very dangerous situation when a City employee is inebriated and gets behind the wheel of a truck, if God forbid, there was an accident or even a fatality, we the citizens would have to pay the price and live with the knowledge that the superiors   are not monitoring a drinking employee.

I know, you’ll say, like the Mayor does every time he loses a law suit and the City has to payout that our ‘insurance’ will pay the monetary damages.  However we are not stupid are we?  Every time the City loses a lawsuit and has to pay, our deductable and rates go up costing guess who to pay more? Bully incompetence I say, incompetence.

In other news, the Commissioner had to address the Casino as it needs better drainage in the basement.  The City employ’s a City Engineer and an Asst. City Engineer, but like the Mayor it seems that the Commissioner likes to out source jobs as well.  He contracted for an outside Engineer to the tune of $100,000.00 and the aide of the Asst. City Engineer (allegedly costing us a figure estimated at $20,000.00 for her time, which was work time not paid extra) for a total of about $100,020.00 or so.  The decision was made on how to correct the situation but we have it from a bumble bee that the cost of the job was only $100,000.00 and will not be done, it seems that the Commissioner thought the job would be much higher and could be bonded but the basement will still be wet.

It was also reported by a Bat Fan that the Contractor that is doing the renovation at the water works is using City vehicles to transport piping over to and using City tools to cut and tool piping.  Taxpayers are paying this Company to do the job, why are they using our trucks, our tools and our fuel?  Use your own equipment, which is part of what we are paying for.

Will this never end?  Will the Mayor ever stop wearing his Cat Woman outfit?   Will Commissioner Scirocco ever remove his Joker suit?  We will find out when next we get together.

WHAT’S GOING ON?

What’s going on (not the Marvin Gaye song) in Saratoga?  This water issue just won’t go away and I don’t even think the tip of the iceberg has been seen yet.  This Watergate folly may and I say may even have legal ramifications for the Mayor and DPW Commissioner Scirocco.  I heard the other day that City Republican Committee Chairman David Harper was the attorney for the property owner’s where the water is being sold and the 180 acre parcel next to it that will ultimately be developed for homes and we all know what happens, the water is out there now, why not add on this development.  We don’t have enough water for the mandatory DOH rules what’s another fine and millions of gallons of water to supply an adjacent town.

 Ripped from the headlines- DPW Commissioner was allowed to borrow from the General Fund, monies to offset the deficit between costs and income received for our water and sewer usage (our bills).  It appears former Commissioner of Finance Ivins let the amount get up to nearly $1.5 million dollars.  The problem as I understand it is that DPW has to pay back the General Fund for the monies borrowed, which hasn’t been done for a while, as a matter of fact since Ivins and Scirocco were in office, there was never even a plan on how to proceed with the payback.  This, fellow Justice League members is going to result in sky rocketing water and sewer  bills and I mean sky rocketing for Saratoga Springs home owners.  Thanks to the smarts of current Commissioner of Finance Madigan and Deputy Bachner, they have started a framework on repayment and have already done so.  Thank you, for that, girls.  I say girls because they are very bright and businesses savvy young ladies, plus I like the term girls, meaning no disrespect to them.

One other item that may or may not interest you, but it does bug me.  Usually when I’m out at night fighting crime and there are fireworks going off, I always think it’s because of my costume and City protection (give me some leeway folks).  However, all kidding aside, it seems every Saturday night between 9:30 and 10:00 fireworks are booming.  I have an idea, why fireworks every weekend?  We all know how costly these displays are, so I have a suggestion.  Those that spend the money for these fireworks do the following.  Take the money you would have spent on these Saturday blasts, split the cost in half and put ½ in an account for fireworks for special events like 4^th of July, Hat’s Off, First Night and a few other special events, then take the other ½ and donate it to a different food pantry or other needy non profits.  You can have the distinction of being named a co sponsor of all the firework events and the tax breaks for the charitable donations.  Then at least we won’t have to cry when the money is not there for a special event fireworks display.

Just a note on Commissioner Franck’s announcement of making a motion to have the Imperial Ruler, I mean Mayor Johnson remove the entire Housing Authority Board for past failures and now the insult of not replying to the state after having 3 months to write a response to the audit’s findings at this coming Tuesday’s Council meeting.  Is this Commissioner the only one that has the pelotas to tackle this head on?  It seems that the Mayor sits on his throne, I mean seat and is trying to use mental telepathy with Sutton while any of these discussions are being held at the table.  I’ll tell you right now Mayor, its useless trying to play mind games with Deputy Sutton.

OSCAR NIGHT

Saratoga Springs has an evening of celebration for Oscar night.  This year’s movies up for best of the year are:

WATERGATE – A small city, having water problems of their own really sinks when the City’s Mayor and Commissioner of DPW sells it’s water to an adjoining town in a possible back room deal that future developed land of 170 acres may be supplied with City water.  The tag line throughout the movie is ‘follow the money’, stupid, or see where the water flows.

COMPREHENSIVE – The Mayor of a small City decides he will hand pick the entire Committee of a 10  year Comprehensive Plan Committee which will determine the path the City will follow in growing, building and keeping green space which the City is fast losing.  The real drama comes when the Mayor nicknamed “Little Napoleon” leaves the other 4 Commissioners out of nominating a candidate, (3 of which do not live in the City and 3 or 4 others who have no vested interest in the City as they pay no taxes, a banker that handles all City money and a good local developer).  The Mayor tells the Commissioners that they can choose one of his picks.  THIS MOVIE IS IN THE COMEDY CATEGORY.

WHAT, NO BUILDING PERMIT? – The story of a small City Mayor, who for reasons unknown fails to issue a building permit to the developer of a 3 story parking garage for the City (yes, the City must issue a permit for any City project).  After 3 months of work, when asked, the developer said the City is responsible for supplying the permit and after the developer discussed this with a local blogger, just like magic a permit was on site the next day.  Something should also be done to the Good Olde Boy’s Network fellow Tom Roohan (see how I used the old fashioned Olde, has a nice look doesn’t it) as no permit can be found on his building which is undergoing reconstruction work; the lack of a permit is a pivotal scene if it involves a new office for Tamara Valentine.  If so, this movie critic would vote this for movie of the year. THIS IS A DEEP DRAMA MOVIE.

RECREATION CENTER – In a small City miles from any land that could be used  for recreation, the small town Mayor builds a Recreation Center on a piece of land that was used for recreation, spending $7 million dollars.  The dark side of this horror flick is that when the Mayor of this small town promises that the City will make large amounts of money after the first year, the taxpayers are being bled to death just to keep the doors open.  The Mayor also plays the bongos at his private club nightly.

These are the four movies up for the award for best whatever.  You choose.

In WATERGATE, the director wanted Harvey Korman & Tim Conway as the male leads, but with one dead and the other not available he chose one who looks dead and one who is not available in Johnson & Scirocco.

 In COMPREHENSIVE the director wanted TaToo from Fantasy Island, but alas he’s dead so they choose Scott Johnson.

In WHAT, NO BUILDING PERMIT? Shauna Sutton stars as the Mayor who can’t find the 3 level parking garage.

And last but not least, in RECREATION CENTER – the director wanted Don Knotts to play the Mayor but since he expired guess who got the part?

Rumor has it that Mayor Johnson’s wife Julie will present the Best Actor award.

MAYOR PLAY'S DOA ON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

One may ask why is it so easy to pick on Mayor Johnson’s crazy way in how he runs the City.    The reason could be because it’s so easy or because he operates outside the City Charter and he is fodder for anyone, well, almost anyone that would print it.

This time we have yet another example of Mayor Johnson’s favorite statement “you’re making this political”, whenever he doesn’t get the votes to pass whatever he wants. 

The Mayor should be giving the Council the authority granted to them by the Charter to choose members for a committee, except those mandated by the State that only a Mayor can do like the Planning Board, Zoning Board, two that I know of, except every chance he can, he skirts the rules and decides to do it “his way”, he must be a Sinatra fan.  The latest example, which had been mentioned here before has some new information that came to light.

Regarding who picks the members of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee:  Johnson made several statements at many Council meetings that he searched the records to see how previous Mayor’s chose these Committees, he made note that under former Mayor Keehn she allowed the Commissioners to choose 1 candidate.  In a recent blog authored by Lucian McCarty, it was stated that Mayor Keehn informed him (correcting the information Johnson gave the Commissioners as to why he (Johnson) is allowed to choose the Committee, by saying that after talking to the whole Council, that each Council member would appoint 2 members each and she would appoint 7, that’s Commissioners 8, Mayor 7.  The article further stated that Mayor Klotz who formed a committee in 2000, appointed 5 members and the Commissioner’s appointed 1 each, Mayor 5 – Commissioners 4.  Mayor Klotz also stated that this was based on previous precedent.

Mayor Johnson’s Committee’s make up – Mayor’s appointments 13 – Commissioner’s 0, you must also remember that 3 of Johnson’s appointments do not even live in Saratoga and 1 of the 3 does not even live in Saratoga County.  Is that politics anyone?  Do we hear the Mayor stomping his feet and pounding his fists on the table because the Commissioner’s didn’t get a choice in the matter? 

It is just too easy to find the points that an opponent can use this fall, oh yeh; he did say in the paper “I don’t pick my opponents, I just beat them”.  Two Republican Committee members had told a friend that he (Johnson) has become an embarrassment not only to the Party but around the State as the leader of Saratoga Springs.

One other item disturbs us.  Why did the McCarty article only show up on his blog and not as a newspaper article?  How much longer is the Saratogian going to protect Mayor Johnson?  If you needed facts you had them from the Mayors.  You could have checked with the Committee members and asked them who appointed them.  If you can’t find Keehn’s document, check his shredder, his Council was supposed to vote yes or no on the Plan or did he feel that it was DOA when it was time to vote on it?

WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHY?

Let’s look at some decisions here and see how they tie together and who benefits from them.

First, let’s take the Comprehensive Plan Committee. The upmost concern regarding this committee should be fair and equal representation for the future path our City will take in the next 5 years.  The Mayor in what I feel is an illegal move in going against the rule spelled out by the Charter and past practices, has appointed all 11 members of this Committee.  3 of these members do not live in Saratoga, there are no citizen non-business representatives of the 4 Districts of the City, there is a very good developer, but why a developer when you are talking about areas that could be affected by crafting changes for boards like Planning, Zoning and Design Review?  One question you can ask yourself is who is to gain by having all these “high level” people on the Committee?  I guess the Mayor feels he can’t get a few smart every day citizens to be on HIS Commission.    

An excerpt from Commissioner Franck’s response in the Saratogian, which I am surprised (lol), the Saratogian did not ask this of the Mayor states,

“Surely, with council input, the Mayor would not have had to look for individuals from Wilton, Clifton Park and Washington County. We would have helped him find local residents, local taxpayers.
Non-taxpaying institutions like the state park, the school district, Skidmore College, the Preservation Foundation and the YMCA certainly have a legitimate institutional interest in the Comprehensive Plan, but they have no taxpayer skin in the game. They should not be placed in a position of dictating our land use policies, and sending the bill to the already beleaguered taxpayer”. 

Seems like a sound statement to me.  I don’t think this is a Democrat against Republican concern, if Commissioner Scirocco had the good sense to see that he was being shafted by the Mayor you wouldn’t know it by his lack of concern for not being able to appoint a few members, but I’m sure the Mayor read him the riot act before the meeting.  If the Mayor is not blowing wind and truly believes what he said when he commented that ‘the Comprehensive Plan should be updated every 5 years and it hasn’t been addressed in 10 years’?  Well let’s see 10 years (2) 5 year periods, gee, the Mayor should have appointed a Committee 5 years ago when he first took office, what takes him so long?  I’ll mention a line that a friend of mine tells me all the time, “Follow the money”.

Does it seem to you as it does me that the Mayor likes to outsource almost everything but his Deputy?  He hires outside attorney’s (we pay 2 City Attorney’s over $160,000.00 & benefits) at $300.00 - $400.00 per hour, he outsources an HR person and pay’s him $75,000.00 per year for a 20 hour work week, he outsources members of City Committees to people that live outside Saratoga Springs.  Again the line from my friend “follow the money”.

Another issue that is disturbing is the Wilton Watergate.  We were told when this mess  started out that 8 homes would be sold Saratoga City water, now the Mayor said this number could be up to 25 units.  The scary thing is there is another 75 or so acres nearby that if developed would want City water.  I am not saying who the developer is but, well, you never know.  If Saratoga gets a Casino and all the hotels and extra businesses that come with it, think how much more water we will need.  The Mayor should start to think about Saratoga and not a possible run for higher office in the future.

He told a citizen at the last Council meeting that if he wanted more answers regarding the Water issue to send his questions to him in writing, what about telling the rest of the City?  Gee, that would be transparency, a word that doesn’t sit well with the Mayor.

Regarding his Charter Commission, I hear that they are discussing the Mayor’s orders to (a). Eliminate as many duties they can from other Commissioner’s and put them under his authority, (b) he would like 4 year terms and change key mandates in the current Charter to be placed under is control.  What he lacks in size he makes up for in arrogance.  We all remember that he was against Charter Change, but it looks like if his Change is to a Strong Mayor he will do anything he can to get it by the voters. 

In his State of the City message, the Mayor made this statement:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It looks like that was only filler for a longer speech; he sure doesn’t heed his own line of bull.

NEVER PLAY POLITICS

Show me a politician who doesn’t play politics and I’ll show you a goat that doesn’t have a goatee. 

Mayor Johnson in a startling announcement last night called for the Council to stop playing politics. After much laughter people got the gist of what he was talking about.  It seems the Council by doing their duty in the best interest of the City and elected by the citizens to do so, upsets the Mayor when they don’t bow down and kiss his ring.

This was the Mayor’s battle cry in his State of the City speech. “STOP PLAYING POLITICS” or in another way what he meant to say was, shut up and stop challenging me.  He has now appointed his Charter Commission, but we don’t know the names, charging them with the task of looking at the budget process and having them strengthen his power over the process.  He also appointed a Comprehensive Plan committee of 11 members.  The Commissioner’s at last Tuesday’s Council meeting cited State law and Saratoga’s past Comprehensive review Committees where the Council combined had the authority to appoint the Committee.  Tuesday night the Mayor would not take part in the discussion and we now know why, he already picked his 11 members, although he won’t divulge their names,(notice a pattern going on over the last 5 years?) thus ignoring State mandate and past precedent and ‘conceded in the speech that as a sign of working with the Council he would meet them half way and let them appoint 1 member each’, well Mr. Mayor, half way of 15 would be you appoint 8 and the Council 7 or you appoint 6 and the Council appoint 5, this is his way of ‘not playing politics’.  The Mayor has been trying to set his position as a strong Mayor under our Charter that was updated 11 years ago since he took office and there are numerous examples, the most recent, the Comprehensive Plan Committee debacle.  We now know why he wouldn’t discuss the legality of his (though process) Tuesday night.  If one compares the pre 2001 Charter, they will find that there were numerous changes made, most dealing with budget improvements which seem to be in fine working order.  Before Mayor Johnson assumed power the updated Charter was humming along nicely, mind you it could be running better with a new form but the people have spoken.  The Mayor then eliminated many [mandated] laws under the current Charter to weaken its effect and the need for those positions to run an efficient government.

The Mayor painted a staggering outlook on the shape of our City, both as a large tourist attraction and as a money generator with low unemployment, lower in fact than State and National numbers, there is no argument there.  He then calls upon Albany to get the casino into Saratoga. 

I feel as many do that since our area is doing so well during these troubled times the Casino will be placed in another area.  There is some growing talk among prominent Saratogian’s as well as us common folks that the casino not be placed in Saratoga but that a perfect destination would be the Catskills.  The area was once a large attraction drawing many of the big acts of its day.  The proximity to NY City is a plus and the low to non existent employment in that area would mean jobs for the area and help to make it prosper again.  Some feel Saratoga has the benefits of a City well run and an income stream that is second to none in NY State.  I personally wonder why the Governor would further advance our City when there are so many areas in the State that desperately need a venue like this to survive.  This may be one reason why we lost the income revenue from the Racino, later to get ½ of the total back.  The thought in Albany was that we were financially better off than most other areas; also remember that Saratoga Springs was the only City hosting a Racino that lost its income because at the time the government perceived us as being a very wealthy City.

So it is, we can’t have our cake and eat it too.  However, if there is a law to run around, our Mayor has proven he is a track star.  More to come on the Speech.

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR - PART "CINQ"

Commissioner of Accounts – John Franck – (B-)

John Franck probably deserves a B+ but just as Mayor Johnson deserves an F, there is something a politician does have and that is the desire to help their City, in Franck’s case he does, in Johnson’s case he tries. 

If you are looking for the strongest person on the Council for their knowledge, standing up for what he thinks is right (most of the time he has the facts in front of him), efficiency in running their Department, look no further than Franck.  Some say he is actually the Mayor of the Council as he seems to have the brains that the real one lacks.

Frank’s Deputy is most qualified to hold her position also.

Franck explains in detail every item he presents, whether he agrees or disagrees, so citizens absolutely know where he stands on the issues.  The years 2005 – 2007, when the Council was all Democrats he did not always follow the Party line on all the issues.  Today with Johnson as Mayor he has held him somewhat in check for the good of the City.

This past year he faced a crisis with class and dignity.  Mary Zlotnick, who it was said by an employee of City Hall, was a plant sent to Franck by super-spy Shauna Sutton and started to undermine and accuse, take pictures, remove files (temporarily) in order to set Franck up for a fall from office in her first days of working.  It was rumored that the Mayor wanted to hold the story up for later this year to come smack in the middle of this year’s election season and with the dirty trick Johnson & Sutton pulled at the last minute of the 2011 election regarding Brent Wilkes nothing would surprise me at what these 2 are capable of.

Zlotnick went to the Police, who found he did nothing wrong, she then called in the Atty. Gen. who after all this time has found no causes of impropriety.  Zlotnick called in every newspaper, television stations and a local blogger whose only purpose is to destroy a person even if he makes up disgusting information to aid her in her directive to bury Franck.  If anyone knows the story, Franck, who gives classes on how to grieve your taxes and will opens his books to anyone, seems to have nothing to hide.  The end result is that the Department of Accounts is as clean as a whistle, Zlotnick, after a public labor hearing (her choice) lost because it was determined she had no knowledge of the job she was doing. 

This year we will decide our new Council.  If the Republicans want to add seats on that Council, they should put up credible candidates rather than the one sitting there now.  We can always hope.

Yours truly

Captain America195

IT’S THAT TIME TO REMMBER PART DUEX

Michele Madigan – C+

• While Madigan has been a breath of fresh air as Finance Commissioner (and that’s not because of her perfume), she does warrant the mark the League has given her.  Some of her best accomplishments should have been done years ago by past Finance Commissioners or even the Mayor by asking his Commissioner for complete transparency, of which the Mayor is famous for touting but has none himself or his office.  First off she put up a page that listed the income and expensed of each department and even broke it down to the sub categories, that and the fact that she appointed one of the most capable Deputy Commissioner’s ever to hold that position in Finance was a smart move, one that could overcome her shortage of knowledge and make that Department one of the best run in City Hall.

• One of the biggest negatives is that she held the budget to a 0% tax increase.  This as was her predecessor’s mistake shows a lack of fiscal responsibility for Saratoga Springs citizens.  Fact- no one likes tax increases but a 1% increase would have added some revenue to maybe add a police or fireman(firewoman), or an in-house HR person that would work full time rather than the Mayor’s penchant for hiring part time attorneys and HR people for twice what the City should be paying, or update equipment or just keeping up with the increases of every day operations, and if we had extra money left over from the increase then use it to pay down the parking garage debt and keep the 12 spaces that the Mayor sold to his Bank.  We need every available parking spot in the City downtown as you never know what could happen as in the previously stated example of Sonny taking almost all of Downtown Saratoga parking spaces.  We need the reserves for the bad times that are coming and the lawsuits that the City will be involved in as long as Johnson is Mayor, and it does not look like Saratoga will get a Casino that we are so sure we will get.

• This lack of the tax increase is bad enough to drop her from a B+ to a C+, even with Bachner as Deputy.

• We had said that there would be more news on the Mayor, but as he makes these crazy decisions a few times a week we’ll wait until after the State of the City address.Now my friends, it's time to watch the movie "Barbie Takes Manhattan"

IT’S THAT TIME TO REMMBER

Well Super Hero fans, it’s time to look back on 2012 and see if predictions come true in 2013.  The events are not in any particular order.

It’s hard to say anything bad about Sonny Bonaccio.  He gives back to the City in generous ways like starting the fireworks pledge of money and getting other friends with bucks to fork over some last minute tax deductions, but that’s a good thing.  However, nothing comes without getting something in return.

The City along with private money finally moved on building what I call the Bonaccio Woodlawn Ave. Parking Garage.  Why the Bonaccio name attached?  Well, for starters, when the new apartment building was going up on the land of the former Price Chopper you could not find any parking spaces anywhere downtown or for that matter for 3 blocks around in any direction.  The parking spaces were taken up by the construction workers.  I asked myself a question, Captain, with his money, why couldn’t Sonny have the workers park in a lot in the area and be shuttled to the site?  I felt that would have freed up many parking spaces for shoppers/businesses.  Much of this construction was going on while the parking garage, mentioned above, was being constructed eliminating about 184 parking spaces.

The project announced next was an 11 screen theater on the corner of the old Price Chopper area, next to the apartment complex.  Where do you think the construction workers parked?  Well, on Division Street and the Bonaccio Woodlawn Ave. Parking Garage, thus taking away spots for diners, shoppers and out of town guests.  I also feel and wonder if you do, was the Mayor working hand in hand with Sonny to get the garage up so he would have parking for his movie theater?  Only the Mayor knows and he won’t say unless you catch him on a good night at Sperry’s.

The next project that finally came to fruition is the development of the ‘Lillian’s parking lot’.  Now, here is something that baffles me (and that’s hard to do), with all this construction going on, Sonny has taken up around 75 parking spots between the Streets of Division, Franklin and Broadway, that’s right, he has roped them off so there is no parking, and guess where the construction workers are parking?  Right the SBWPG.  The Christmas season in full swing, the cry that we need out of towner’s eating and shopping on Broadway and you can’t get a parking spot, bravo for the planning.

I try to connect the dots and you have to follow the money.  Why shouldn’t Sonny pay to the DBA a sum of money for each parking spot he took for the number of days he will keep them shut off.

Let’s grade the 5 “heads of the City”

• Mayor “Rosie Cheeks” Johnson - D
• Commissioner of Finance Michele Madigan – C+

• Commissioner of Accounts John Franck – B+

• Commissioner of Public Safety Chris Matessien – B-

• Commissioner of Public Works Anthony “Skip” Scirocco – D

Now before you start to get hot under your collar, I don’t care what Party a person belongs to as long as they do his or her job.

• Mayor Johnson – D – The Mayor has said again that he will be appointing a Charter Commission to look at how to make the current Charter work better.  If only Johnson would have done this 4 years ago, it would have been credible.  Over the past 3 years he has said no less than 20 times that he would appoint a Charter Commission, then in the same breath he would say that he wanted everyone’s voice heard and after spending at least $100,000.00 of taxpayer money fighting citizens to put a legal proposal on the ballot, 5 days before the election he announced he would indeed appoint his Commission of at least 15 members.  I PREDICT that he will name the Commission during the State of the City address.  I have already been told by 2 members of the Committee that they have been charged with giving the Mayor power to control the budget process and to be the sole person to appoint outside employees i.e., lawyers, HR person, Engineers etc.

• It seems the Mayor is not only disregarding a Council mandate that he hire a                   Human Resource person that would be a full time City employee (vote 4-1, guess who the 1 was), as the City Charter calls for.  When citizens call him “Little King” I hope they know how little he really is (his goatee is even with the hem of a lady wearing a knee length dress, as a matter of fact, HBO wanted him to play Triyon the dwarf on the series “The Game of Throne’s”.  Well that may be stretching it a little but you get the idea.

• The Mayor would rather pay an ‘outside’ HR person $75,000.00 a year for a 20 hour work week.  Yes that’s $150,000,00 smakolas (a smakola =$1.00).  The Council especially Commissioner Madigan said there was enough money in the budget to have the City hire it’s own HR person for 40 hours a week for about $100,000.00 a year which would include benefits, wow, we know the Mayor loves using outside friends to work for the City, but his face isn’t too shiny on this subject.

The saving grace is that we will have to vote on the changes and we should vote no for a few reasons.  The current Charter was updated in 2001 which increased the Mayor’s authority, the positive changes in the Charter were eliminated during the first year of Mayor Johnson’s reign, as stated above the Johnson spent a large sum of money fighting a ballot proposal to be voted on by the people and his budget for his Commission will be at least $50,000.00.

I am sure that in the next year we will be finding out some interesting facts regarding the Mayor and his Deputy Shauna Sutton.

Next time, more on the Mayor and Shauna’s Building Inspector bungling.

Happy New Year and we will be discussing the Mayor, Shauna and Commissioner Mathiesen next time.

EATING CROW - CONGRATULATIONS SUCCESS

Well, the election is over and I have to tip my hat to SUCCESS for running a campaign that did put the fear of high taxes and a change to a City run by big developers, I thought that’s what we have now.  However, they won and we will go on as usual.

It should also be said a round of thanks should go to the hard working people who worked on the Saratoga Citizen side.  They were a group of concerned citizens who fought for a cause they believed in with no aspirations other than to make the City better.  Saratoga would be even better if it had more citizens like them to join civic programs that just to sit back and complain about those whose intentions are not selfish in any way.

One thing that we can come away with from this election and can join SUCCESS in is that people do not want 4 year terms among other items, as the Mayor has indicated this himself.  His Commission will be watched by many to see if they will make sure that the mandates of the 2001 Charter passed by the citizens will be enforced.  The way to better this form can probably be done by just following that Charter’s mandates.

It will also be interesting to see how our economy will fare when as rumored the Governor announces soon that Albany will be the site of a new full blown casino, which has been talked about for the last few months.  I have no fear however, that our form of government will be able to keep Saratoga the lively City we are now with no tax increases and the same level of services.

   

Again, congratulations to SUCCESS for their victory.

WILL IT BE A SURPRISE?

1. Will it be a SURPRISE, if the Saratogian, after nearly 30 years of calling for a change of the form of our government does not endorse Proposition 1?

  

2. Will it be a SURPRISE to find out that Mayor Johnson will pull a last minute slam out of his bag of dirty tricks to try and create fear and doubt to sway voters as he did in last years Mayor’s election.  I remember that one, he had his minions pass out door tags and mailings days before the election telling voters that his opponent Brent Wilkes had mismanaged his business into a 90 some million dollar loss.  It was proven that the Mayor had fabricated the information.  Newspapers reported in many articles of the unscrupulous act the Mayor pulled.

3. Will it be a SURPRISE if businessmen like Tom Roohan, Charles Wait, and Elliott Masie are against Proposition 1?  Remember that the Commission form was started “when fearful that the island city might never recover its prosperity under the leadership of the incumbent city council, a group of wealthy businessmen known as the Deep Water Committee devised a plan to have the governor appoint a commission to govern the city during the rebuilding period. To appease opponents who contended that appointed government was undemocratic, the plan was altered to provide for popular election of the five commissioners.”  The operative words here are WEALTHY BUSINESSMEN.  The Commission form was created by them and for them.  Look at Saratoga Springs rich history, who were the power brokers?  Roohan’s, Wait’s, McNeary’s, go ahead look back in time and see for yourself.  These men and those that came before them wanted to keep Saratoga Springs under their thumbs and do things when they wanted to, not when an independent Council set the pace.  Today we have a mini me version in Mayor Johnson, with his $27,000,000.00 clout and his business buying spree's, he is getting away with things local citizens could never get away with.

He has a fence surrounding his house that is illegally placed and doesn’t meet code.  He has stamped macadam sidewalks when City Code says you -have to have 5ft. wide by 4’ thick concrete with wire sidewalks, again he is out of code.  Why isn’t the code Dept. charging him with these code violations?  Is he inserting his private threats on City Hall employees?

4. Would it be a SURPRISE if SUCCESS was paying senior’s to vote no?

5. Would it be a SURPRISE if not one word that SUCCESS is promoting regarding the Charter is truthful?

Like it or not, the back room of politics is surely a game.  Will it change if the Manager form wins?  Not all games but most of them.  One Commissioner would not be able to stick it up another Commissioners backside because they wouldn’t play ball with them. 

 The Council would be the legislative body of government approving every piece of City business.  The Manager would oversee the running of the departments by qualified department heads, not political appointees or appointees that have a personal interest with a Commissioner.  This Manager will get the Departments to run smoothly and efficiently because if they don’t then it is his or her job on the line.

I hope you have made up your minds by now, but if you are against the Proposition or still on the fence, take a look at what happens in the next few days, say a Press release by the Mayor, a charge by the financial backer of SUCCESS, Elliott Masie and ask yourself, are these acts of desperate people trying to have fears and doubts about this issue?  If so take a look at what they do not want to lose and ask yourself, maybe it’s time to take our government back.

A great post by a Saratoga resident who is an author of his own site explained it well, visit his article here
http://tenoonan.com/2012/10/31/saratoga-springs-charter-vote/