CAN THIS BE REAL OR AM I IN A NIGHTMARE?

I watch the City Council meetings and the show the 3 amigos put on is getting funnier each meeting.  Commissioner Matheisen sits back in his chair with his fingers tapping against each other, Skip staring out to who knows where only waking up to say crazy things like ‘I think some of the homeless are serial killers and Madigan, well what can you say about her, she is just too out of it.  Anyone who attends the meetings or watches them knows the great martini Madigan wants to be Mayor and she is treating her constituents like dirt, unlike the current Mayor.

Now we have bull dog David Bonner at the mic again at every Council meeting berating the Mayor instead of Madigan, Skip and Matheisen for acting like dummies at the table.  Bronner is like the big bad wolf  but his bluster is not good enough to be believed.

Now, about Skippy.  The story is that a few times a week Skip, Deputy Dog Buckley and Madigan are at Jacob & Anthony’s imbibing in a (few?) adult beverages.  Why Madigan can’t even hide her straw that is in her carafe of the vino she drinks.

Those of you know I write about my funny little guy Skip quite a bit, there is nothing wrong with the little fella except he is way out of his league holding the position he occupies on the Council.  Skip was a very capable animal control officer, corralling doggies and getting cats out of trees, chasing skunks and even a raccoon or two.  Advice warning…. Skip, you should have stayed at the job you were born to do.

Anyone that wants to know what the DPW workers do during the day only has  to look anywhere that sells coffee, ding dongs (named after he who can’t be mentioned) and lottery tickets.  Also, stand on Broadway and you can see trucks with the same identifing number going round and round. 

Madigan again sucked up to Skip at the 5/3 Council meeting, saying that she congratulates Skip for the job well done and for returning some money back into the budget.  Well, the DPW fleet is in such disrepair it is an embarrassment, why didn’t you put some money into that part of the business Skip and why didn’t Madigan address that point when she was shining your ding dong?

A question for Skip, you always say how much infrastructure you have done, what is the % of what the DPW has done and what the outside firms you hire at big $ have done?  Please list the number and jobs so we can laugh at your explanations like we do when you try to make a point  at a meeting.  Skip, no one can understand what you are talking about.

Another smiling matter, all this nonsense about the hospital deal.  Madigan, Skip and Matheisen are going against the will of the residents of that area. Skippy said ‘we should get the home owners together with the hospital and maybe something can be worked out’, SKIP get this through your head, at every meeting the home owners do not want to talk to the hospital, they do not want the mammoth building with all the black top parking spaces, they do not want their property values to plunge, what in the heck don’t you get? You are blank but can’t Madigan sit you on her lap and explain it to you?  Although she doesn’t get it .   Madigan says we have so much of a fund balance then why doesn’t she talk to her fellow Council members and purchase the houses now at the current market values then let Sonny build away?  Talk about conflict of interest, Bonacio was a member of the Comp Committee and he stands to gain the big bucks for building the facility.  This could be another reason why the Skipster forgave the 1 million dollars in fees Bonacio owed the City in water hookup fees and the 3 amigos voted in favor in changing that part of the Charter in eliminating said fees.  Do you see a pattern?  Follow the money friends, follow the money.  More on Skippy & the other 2 amigos later, for now sit back and relax, watch a rerun of a Council and laugh your head off.

DOES ANYBODY CARE?

Saratoga politics, does anybody really care?  The primary pitted a newcomer with good ideas to put in place against someone that campaigned from the Council table at meetings, saying things about his opponent while she couldn’t respond in kind at the meeting (this tactic by the Commissioner of PS is most likely illegal), but that doesn’t stop some on this Council.  The citizens of Saratoga have really no clue on what is happening to our City.  How many citizens go to meetings?  How many take the time to watch on line?  How many watch on local TV?  How many go to the site http://saratogaspringsny.swagit.com/city-council/ and watch the whole meeting or any part you want?  If you did, you would see a show worth sitting down with a bowl of popcorn and wouldn’t be able to stop laughing until after the meeting when you then become disgusted that those were the people voted in office to serve we the people.

People complain that Mayor Yepsen hasn’t gotten much done but she has and she would get more done if the 3 amigos would stop disagreeing with her just because of some idiotic personal thought placed in their heads.  Matheisen is just plain mean, the paper said Burger called to congratulate him on his primary win and his reply to that gesture was that “Miss Burger was not a good fit for the job.., this, after saying, “he would now reach out to Burger’s supporters, in keeping with Democratic Party values”.  I guess that is the response one gives when you have access to as much laughing gas you want.   Madigan is mean and is losing touch with reality and Skip, and well he is just Skip, looking like a deer in the headlights at every meeting.

One area that the City is losing income is the DPW used to have its own crew that would pour sidewalks in designated areas, the City would get grant money every year for doing this thereby making money doing the concrete work. As it stands now, Commissioner Scirocco hires out a firm to do the sidewalks not only giving up income to pay employees but to outsource work, he just doesn’t get it.  Look for yourself from past Council meetings how many times Scirocco hires outside engineers to perform jobs when the City pays big money for 2 City Engineers, I don’t think he gets it.  Skip also has his street ripped up new water & sewer lines run and then newly paved.  I asked a few neighbors if they had water or sewer problems and they said no, so what’s up Skip?

On the water front, the Bonacio water hookup fee forgiveness (over 1 million dollars) that we the citizens have to pay for as the Skipper changed the law so no fee is required so the cost falls on our backs, he just changed the Charter with the help of Madigan & Matheisen.

When the citizens were raising concerns that Bonacio was not going to pay that 1 million dollar fee, in a back room meeting attended by, Bonacio, Scirocco, Billy Benton, Donna Buckley, Sam Boardman &   Barbara Putnam it was decided that the City would not put pressure on Scirocco to pay it back, it looks like Skip had Sam Boardman sign a letter stating that Bonacio did not have to pay the City the 1 million. Only Skip or Tim Wales could sign a letter of this type and only after Council approval which Skip never brought the ‘deal’ before the Council.  The excuse from Scirocco that over ½ million dollars of improvements were done by Bonacio for the forgiveness of payment is bull skip.  These improvements were items that Bonacio HAD to do to get the permission to build.

The latest (2 weeks ago) the public received information from an Albany law firm that is being retained by some local developers because the Commissioner of Public Works has been charging certain developers a water hookup fee after he had the Charter changed not to charge these fees.   I would like to know, was the law changed to protect 1 developer and not everyone?  Also doesn’t Finance Commissioner Madigan have the responsibility to know if money is coming in for water hookup fees and inform Skip that he is breaking the law according to the Charter or is she allowing this and not performing her duties?  People, this is another potential lawsuit in the making, one which if the attorney is correct will result in the taxpayers paying out yet another bumbling by Madigan, Matheisen & Scirocco.

Why so many DPW workers working in Congress Park?  The last time I counted 5 people & 3 cleaners, this is a complete waste of man power.

Hey, good news.  It looks like the Hospital has taken a beautiful chunk of green space from the green belt on Myrtle Ave. for an Administration Bldg.  This West side property had one of the prettiest views around.  Where are the bleeding hearts that are trying to stop Saratoga National from building on their own land?  Could this be a case of double standard, Save the Greens or whatever you call yourselves?  On this topic, why does the eastern side of the Northway need a fire house and ambulance station on property in the green belt?  We have a fire Dept. that can answer calls already.  I don’t want my taxes going to pay for a minimum of 4 firemen (12 because you need 3 shifts) and ambulance people, let the Lake people pay for their own.  Wilma Koss and Nancy ‘Pitbull’ Goldberg will be glad to start a campaign for you to do so.

 Lastly, why does it take Matheisen 15 minutes to give a comeback after a person says something in the Public comment period?  Why not be like Skip and mumble out a few words and forget what you’re talking about?

CAN SKIP FLIP A SWITCH FOR WATER?

4 months ago at a Council meeting Commissioner Scirocco said that if anyone wanted to go with him he could flip a switch and start the pumps at Bog Meadow and pump all the water we need into Loughberry Lake.  Well why haven’t you flipped that switch Skip?  The lake level is down 27” as of Friday the 10^th and I haven’t seen it this low in 50 years.  We need water and we need it now.  You can see where the minimum level should be which is the black strip above the top of the cement block.

Skip, say it isn’t true, you are failing the taxpayers at every turn.  What gives?

The biggest bane of Skip’s tenure is the Bonacio and 2 other developers “give back of almost a million dollars, $1,000,000.00, 1 million smackers.  Skip said he really didn’t know that Sonny got that much in waivers but then said that Sonny does work and/or upgrades for the City at no cost.  However, we have found out by City Hall employees that a meeting was held about giving these waivers to Bonacio, and sitting around that table was none other than Skip DPW Commissioner, Stanley Boardman, Donna Buckley (Skips right hand girl), Barbara, Sonny Bonacio and Bill Benton (Sonny is the developer and also a partner with Benton in B&B Plumbing).  Well, some insiders say that most of the work completed was in the application and needed to be done for the large projects to be given the green light.  Sonny first needed to install 12” water mains which he did not do and that is a requirement of step 1 in getting a waiver.  Bonacio has never fixed (resurfaced the Division section) of road after he tore it up for various lines as called for in the applications.  In this case the City can do the job and get paid by Bonacio so the DPW workers have jobs to do but we saw what they do with their time.

The next item from the inside is that Skip has been planning for about a year to put in a new sewer line down Pinewood Ave. (your street).  I hope this doesn’t tie in with any Bonacio deals.

Skip is now a legend with his own cartoon on the editorial page of Sunday’s Daily Gazette.  The cartoon shows a man sitting at home in his chair and saying “Scirocco says the ordinance needs updating to reduce the requirements then he says, Seems to me it needs updating to increase the FEES.  How true.  The Commissioner shouldn’t go deeper into a developers wish for large waiver fees, the City should be getting more money from them in hookup fees.

In the past Skip had 3 people who rode from parking garage to parking garage in a City truck to clean them.  Skip has reduced the staff to one female (Connie) who with no truck has to walk from parking  garage to parking garage and clean them by herself.  She starts out the day at the Spring St. garage, then walks to the Woodlawn Ave. Garage, then onto the garage behind the new Adirondack Building, the a quick walk to clean the Algonquin lot.  Now get this, she cleans all the garages and the lot with the tools Skip gives her and I’m not joking people, a BROOM & DUST PAN.

News flash - Skip and Donna Buckley (Acting Deputy Commissioner and Chauffeur), slavery was eliminated by Abraham Lincoln or haven’t you heard yet?

Marilyn Rivers has her own problems which she is letting go by the board which in effect puts all citizens in a potential large problem which I will mention later.  First of all, every City vehicle has to have markings that that vehicle is the property of the City.  DPW vehicles except 2 have the orange decal with lettering noting the words Saratoga Springs among others.  Some of the vehicles have the same logo but in blue.  Police cars are marked Saratoga Springs as are Fire Trucks.  The only two other than unmarked Police cars are the vehicles that belong to Skip and Tim Cogan.  The question Marilyn is why, oh why? 

The next item has been brought to Marilyn’s attention for months now with no action taken.  The pictures below will tell the story.  This of course is at the Marion Ave. Mobile station.  The station’s vehicles, among them quite a few U-Haul trucks & vans sit on City property and create a liability problem.  They sit along the building which is the future home of the DPW’s paint shop and if the City isn’t charging the owner for parking and hasn’t  got a certificate of insurance then you aren’t doing your job Marilyn and it may be time for you to step down.  Is this another case of a favorite son getting a break from the City?

The gas line is one of many and sits on the roadsides with no protection around them.  What if a car goes off the road and smashes into one?  If this isn't a City problem then contact the company whose has the responsibility to do so.

There is also liability problems you are failing to take action on.  There are a few large steel plates sitting on Broadway, one by Soave Faire and one down past Uncommon Grounds, plus many corner curbs where the concrete has shattered and the metal is sticking up just waiting for someone to trip, fall and get hurt real bad.

Now I said earlier that the citizens are at risk or have a problem is because every time there is a claim to be paid by the City’s Insurance company, out deductibles for the next year rises and we pay more through our taxes or the City’s surplus balance further reducing that amount.  We need Marilyn to do her job or find someone that will.

ELIMINATE WATER HOOKUP FEES FOR EVERYONE?

All builders by law have to pay a $3,000.00 for water hookup fee per each new single residential unit then $2,000.00 for every additional unit.

I reported many months ago that developer Sonny Bonacio had gotten away without paying hookup fees of at least $854,000.00 that Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco waived.  The Commissioner also waived fees in the amount of $35,000.00 to Gordon Companies of Albany at Seward & Morgan Streets in 2012 and Saratoga attorney James Doyle had fees of $9,000.00 waived at homes on Adams & Jackson streets.  The amount so far is $898,000.00, that’s right $2,000.00 short of $1 million dollars taken away from citizens on just these 3 projects.  While this was reported in the Times Union today, this may only be the tip of the iceberg.  Records also show that Bonacio, B&B Plumbing (owned by Bonacio and Billy Benton) and Doyle contributed money to Sirocco’s campaigns.

The reasoning Scirocco gave of waiving the fees was that DPW can subtract costs for water hookups if developers install 12” water pipes in right of ways but it is noted that none of the waivers approved by Sirocco for these projects included installation of said 12” water pipes.  Scirocco also said that he alone can grant a waiver but the city ordinance states that the Council has to approve waivers of this type.  Scirocco also stated that the developers were granted waivers because they spent money to update the water infrastructure, which William McTygue a city resident, former Director of Public Works and a candidate who ran against Sirocco in the last election makes a valid point as far as I am concerned, stating that developers shouldn’t be rewarded with waivers for improvements because in some cases they would have to make them anyways for their projects to be approved.

After the waivers were granted by Scirocco, Tim Wales the City Engineer (who reports to Scirocco) sent Bonacio a letter which informed the developer that the free connections for the Weibel Avenue and Railroad were awarded mistakenly As there is no provision in the law that the Commissioner alone can make this decision and that he (Wales) asked Bonacio to pay the fees, which he has refused to do.

Now Scirocco wants to change the law in the Charter giving him sole discretion to waive fees without Council approval.  McTygue has asked for an audit to be conducted by Commissioner of Finance Michele Madigan and also an outside audit of the waiver reductions.  Madigan said she did a limited review but now she is thinking of doing a more defined audit if necessary.  She also said “that would mean a larger scope and I would go much further back in time as well”

This story smelled funny when I reported it many months ago and it smells worse now.  It seems we have a Commissioner who doesn’t know how or doesn’t care what is in the best interest of the taxpayers.

I would suggest any developer to start your engines now and ask for a waiver before something changes.