COMMISSIONERS SCIROCCO AND MADIGAN AT IT AGAIN

Well you can tell it is an election year in Saratoga Springs.  We’ll start with Scirocco, has your lawn debris been picked up weekly since summer?  Have you seen articles in the paper about all the projects large and small that Scirocco takes credit for? If you answer yes to these 2 questions then you have to know election time is this November.

Scirocco can’t really take credit for much as he contracts out quite a lot of what DPW does.  He hires more outside contractors and engineers as much as the City hires outside attorneys.

The rest of the 1 1/2 years the City looks like crap, ripped up roads all over the City and City property looking terrible, overgrown grass is common place, Congress Park is a mess and Broadway doesn’t look any better until 6 months before an election and it has been this way since he has been in office, he bit off more than he could chew when he took office.

The lawsuits that he has had against himself and the City have been numerous.  Among the ones out there involves the City Engineer he suspended earlier this year because he supports Dillon Moran and the water hookup fee which I don’t think is wrapped up yet.

Remember that his son who works for him in DPW was arrested on 4 counts of DWI and allowed to stay on the job.  Skip had another fellow who worked for the water Dept. drive him to the job sites.  He also cries he doesn’t have enough help but I am told by someone in the Finance Dept. that he turns money back every year to his darling Michelle to make her look good.

Skip was also involved in voting to give Hot Dog Eddy Miller and his girlfriend a contract to do business with the City through their business.  Yes, Skip hired the Hot Dog to work for him in Public Works (he gets the Independence endorsements that way and a nice campaign donation).

This November you must vote for Saratoga native Dillon Moran.

ONTO COMM.MADIGAN

Well you can tell it is an election year in Saratoga Springs.  Commissioner Madigan who has lost the Democrat line on the ballot due to losing the Democrat primary has broken off on being a Democrat.  She is running on the Independence line and that Party is run by none other than DPW employee Hot Dog Eddy Miller and his girlfriend.  This Party has never ran a candidate but once that I can remember but just endorses friends of theirs.  Commissioner Madigan is as thick as a heavy burgundy with Hot Dog’s girlfriend and also voted to give Hot Dog Eddy Miller and his girlfriend Joanne Foresta a contract to do business with the City through their business, both Scirocco and Madigan received the endorsement and a nice campaign donation from the Independence Party run by an employee of Scirocco and Commissioner Madigan’s best friend.  This information was taken to the Ethics Board but since that board is run by biased men and a woman they decided that nothing wrong happened, WOW.

Commissioner Madigan has had a few of her own problems I am sure you know about.  The 30 year deal with the fiber optics company that will cost Saratoga Springs a fortune and believe it or not this Company is the only entity that can run cables through our sewer lines.

This week she announced a 0.05% tax cut for City taxpayers even though expenses have risen. Madigan’s plan, an increase of $1.1 million over the adopted 2019 budget. Contractual wage increases, additional funding for information technology, increased commodity costs, and health insurance accounts for much of the year-over-year change. Personnel and benefits are up 1.9% and 2.5% in 2020, respectively.”  By the way there is a story going around the City of a very unknown and non transparent present the Commissioner will receive if elected this Fall and that will be an all expense paid (by taxpayers) top of the line health care policy all complete for life, yes life.  Should elected officials get lifetime benefits for life?  What happened to serve the people? Now, back to the tax decrease.  The Commissioner plans on paying the rising expenses with the budget surplus which she has been draining every year since she has been in office to pay for these increases which has given her the magic of not raising taxes over the last 8 years.  This is not a sound practice to run a City.  Well there will be more as election time draws near.

We must vote Morrison for Commissioner of Finance to not only save the large expense of for life health insurance benefits but also not leaving the City with much of a surplus.

This November you must vote for Patty Morrison.

THE PREDICTIONS:

Mayor – Tim Holmes

Commissioner of Finance – Patty Morrison

Commissioner of DPW – Dillon Moran

Commissioner of PS – Robin Dalton

Supervisors : 2

Matt Vietch

Steve Mittler

ELECTION NOT QUITE OVER

Well, the election season is almost over.  There are 3 races left to be determined, the Commissioner of Public Safety post which if Peter Martin holds onto his lead will be the biggest upset in Saratoga Springs voting in years.  The second position will be that of the 2^nd Supervisor post, Tara Gaston currently holds the lead and the third is probably the most important vote in Saratoga Springs in the last 100 years, yes Charter Change.  In a surprising vote at the end of election night The Yes vote had a slim 48 vote lead over the No voters.   With over 500 absentee votes to be counted on Tuesday it will be nail biting time for all those involved with the outcomes.  If I am not mistaken most of the absentee ballots are from senior housing and nursing homes so this will be an indication of how or aged population is up to date with the goings on in the City.

Again, it is very sad that our Democratic & Republican Chairmen cannot handle their jobs.  One of their functions is to make sure every position has someone from their respective Party running for office.  In a City as great as Saratoga Springs that can’t be too hard of a job, there must be many people that want to take part in keeping this City great, right?

One of the most notable and pathetic things that came out of this election was to show how bad of a job our unopposed Commissioners are doing especially one that was highlighted throughout the campaign season and that is Commissioner Skippy Scirocco, not only can’t he do his job but it seems there is no direction coming from the Deputy position.

It was highlighted during the season that the water in Saratoga Springs tastes terrible, some areas had lead in the water and low pressure was a problem in many areas of the City.  Pictures showing the disgusting shape of our water lines were shown by groups with the hope someone in DPW would get it.  Well some revelation must have happened election night.

I want to start off by saying that the picking up of leaves and lawn debris has come down to once every 4 weeks, Skippy has sheared off staff to help Madigan keep her budget deficit under 2 million dollars this year, so he hasn’t got the staff to work the streets and has to pull them off that job and put them on other jobs.

That being said, Skippy is feeling the heat for the condition of water pressure, and of the water lines which I had showed you in pictures in previous posts.  I’ll put one up here.  

Now, at this time of the year, with freezing temperatures, Skip, Donna or his Deputy has decided to FLUSH the hydrants.  The problem with this is, it’s the wrong time of the year, not only is it freezing out but the water will pick up and carry the leaves that haven’t been picked up by DPW workers (as they now have to flush the hydrants) will be floating and will cover the water  drains.  What type of leadership do we have here and how can this Commissioner sit at the Council table saying how much worse off we will be under a new form of government?  This man in incapable of doing his job and has been for the last 10 years.  This is what we get for having Party leaders giving someone a free pass at election time.

Flushing of the hydrants will begin Nov. 13^th and will continue through, THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING, November 24^th. 

Anyway, we wait to see what shakes out Tuesday.

Just one other tidbit, on election day, candidate and loser Mark Baker stopped in to most voting places handing out apples, something I don’t think was kosher for a candidate to do.

WELL IT’S TIME FOR THE ENDORSEMENTS

Next Tuesday is Election and I hope everyone will seriously think about the 3 unopposed Commissioners running and use your right to write in a name.  Below are my picks.

Mayor – Meg Kelly – she has experience running the office, is smart and reacts great with people

Commissioner of Public Safety –  Peter Martin -  He worked out well as Supervisor and his legal background is a benefit.  Mr. Braim is a retired police officer and on a City pension, not a good mix as I think a non -police person should do the job as Commissioner with the Police & Fire Chief running their own show with the Commissioner working with them when they need anything.

City Court Judge – Francine Vero – she has the experience being on the bench and also no one knows who the heck her opponent is.

Now to write in these names :

Commissioner of Accounts – Gordon Boyd (you don’t need to be a CPA, just good)

Commissioner of Finance – Jeffery Altimeri – CPA, Former Senior Vice-President of Finance of a company doing 19 Billion dollars of business a year, yes,  $19 BILLION.  I think I would trust his financial recommendations over who we have now and he most likely wouldn’t have put the City in a 1 million dollar Budget deficit this year.   Also as John Franck said at a Council meeting  about Comm. Madigan – paraphrasing ‘she is a librarian not a finance director’.

Commissioner of Public Works – Patrick Kane – why?  He found out Skippy’s nickname - Chicken S.

County Supervisors:  Vote for 2 out of the 4 running

Matt Veitch, John Safford, Tara Gaston, Pat Freisen

This is a tough one to pick as all 4 are very good candidates and I wish we could vote for all 4.  Alas, it cannot be, so here it is.

1.    Matt Veitch – he has the experience, gets things done and works with Republicans & Democrats equally

2.    Tara Gaston – Young, great ideas and a background to get things done.

As I said they all are good candidates and good people so good luck to all 4.

CHARTER CHANGE – VOTE YES – turn your ballot over and vote YES to proposal 4.