SHAUNA SUTTON-DOWD'S ENDORSEMENT

 In the Saratogian today Sutton-Dowd has received the paper's endorsement for the office of mayor, this one should come as no surprise.  The paper gives kudos to both candidates and could have gone either way, but it follows the Mayoral picks of the past.  When some of your biggest advertisers are Adirondack Trust, Roohan Realty and Allerdice who not only as I said are big advertisers but also top Republican old timers what can one expect?  In the papers reasoning, the editorial staff gives reasons like negotiating union contracts bringing all but one to completion, when in fact it was one that was signed and the rest have been working without a contract.  The editorial staff also uses the Rec Center as a huge plus for Sutton-Dowd.  The Center may have come in under budget but we know the reasons, (a) inferior materials used, (b) The was not up to code, which cost a building inspector who was fired by Sutton-Dowd after the inspector refused her request to pass the inspection anyway. (c) Sutton-Dowd had promised that after the first year the Center would make a profit, which in fact every year the Center gains a bigger loss than the year before, (d) Sutton-Dowd in her role as top overseer of the Center had it built without any parking or showers needed for the out of town players. This is a great resume to be Mayor of Saratoga and the probable threat of pulling ads from the newspaper by Adirondack Trust, Roohan Realty and Allerdice and others might have been the tipping point for the paper.

MESSAGE FROM THE SARATOGIAN 20 YEARS AND STILL NO GO!

Monday, October 22, 2012

MESSAGE FROM THE SARATOGIAN 20 YEARS AND STILL NO GO!

I have been bombarded by posters and facebook friends that have posted it for their friends and have been getting messages from Saratoga Citizen to print an editorial from the 90's that the Saratogian wrote regarding changing the form of government.  So here it is.

 The Saratogian, November 1991 Editorial "Time to Trade In Antique Form of Government"

"The faces may change from election to election, but the City Council will remain an unwieldy, five-headed monster until the form of government is changed.
Saratoga Springs is a city rich in history, but the commission form of government is a tradition whose time has come and gone.
The form has all but disappeared from city governments. Yet Saratoga Springs hangs on to the commission form, the same one in place when the city was chartered in 1915. It’s like hanging on to a Model T – and still trying to drive it.
It’s time for a trade-in.
The problem with the commission government is not its age, but its set-up.
 The City Council comprises five council members, each of whom is in charge of one of the city’s five departments. A council member cannot simply be a legislator. A council member must also be responsible for a specific department; finance, accounts, public safety or public works. The only lone ranger is the mayor, although the engineering department is under the auspices of the mayor’s office.
 The four council members who are responsible for a department get to hire their own deputy commissioner, which is a full-time administrator, to run the office. The deputy commissioner therefore serves at the whim of the one council member responsible for that department.
 No one is in charge. "Mayor" sounds important, but don’t be fooled. The Mayor of Saratoga Springs has no more power than any of the other four heads of the council monster. One head, one vote. That sounds fair, but it makes for ineffective government.
Think of your workplace with no one in charge. The supervisors are left to work things out with one another. As the "Dilbert" cartoon character has pointed out, if one department needs the cooperation of another on some matter, but the matter is not one of the other’s top 1,000 priorities, it won’t get done. At least not right away.
The only hint of accountability comes every two years at election time, when council members can take credit for what got done and blame colleagues for what got stymied.
Over the years, the volunteers and the private sector in Saratoga Springs have done more to enhance the city than has the City Council. The form of government is in part to blame.
Instead of a city run by five disparate departments, one person – be it a manager, administrator, or mayor – should be overseeing the government.
Changing the form of government should be a priority in the coming term. Mayor A.C. Dake – who is unopposed this term – has said she would pursue charter revision. She should hold fast to that commitment to bring Saratoga Springs into the 20th century, before the 21st rolls around."

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