How to resolve AdBlock issue? I watched the March 15th Saratoga Springs City Council meeting and was stunned that Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino proposed and the council approved defunding the Assistant Chief of Police position held by Robert Jillson. To say that was wrong would be a gross understatement.
I was Deputy Public Safety Commissioner under previous Public Safety Commissioners Ron Kim, Chris Mathiesen and Robin Dalton, so I have a good idea of how the Saratoga Springs Police Department works and how the hierarchy of the SSPD has become much leaner and more efficient. Those improvements were achieved through the combined efforts of successive commissioners, chiefs, and labor unions, and with the support of previous Finance Commissioners and other City Council members.
The March 15th action was a sneak attack by Montagnino without prior consultation with the SSPD and without advance public notice of the proposed change as required by law. It also makes absolutely no sense. Robert Jillson was an excellent choice to succeed retiring Assistant Chief John Catone. He is an exceptional individual whose ability, integrity and institutional knowledge are exactly the right qualifications for the position.
Montagnino says the change will save money and make the SSPD more efficient. That’s not likely to happen. What certainly will happen is that Assistant Chief Jillson will be demoted to the rank of Lieutenant, displacing a promoted Lieutenant who will be demoted to the rank of Sergeant, displacing a promoted Sergeant who will be demoted to the rank of Patrol Officer. Those unwarranted demotions will destroy the morale of not only the affected officers but of the entire SSPD, as every police officer will recognize that her or his efforts are not appreciated and that the City Council doesn’t care about destabilizing the department.
The City’s 2022 budget is in extraordinarily good condition, and the small difference between the Assistant Chief’s salary and a Lieutenant’s salary will have only a negligible effect on the City’s finances. It seems that Montagnino isn’t as interested in saving money as he is in asserting political control over the SSPD during his two year term.
The current City budget includes full funding for 7 vacant police officer positions that are unfilled because it is extremely difficult to find qualified candidates willing to join a police department in a city like Saratoga Springs. Every summer brings a tidal wave of visitors, disturbances, and violent crimes, and every day comes with the possibility of unfounded complaints about imaginary police misconduct. The city would be much better served if Montagnino devoted more attention to making the SSPD an attractive place to work instead of creating chaos within the organization.
Montagnino is causing chaos in other areas as well. He proposes to turn the city’s downtown area into a “mini-SPAC‚ every week, with street closings, barricades, restricted access, security checkpoints, metal detectors, and a private security force bought and paid for by person(s) he hasn’t yet identified. Maybe he thinks we’ll be better off if he has his own private army, but that doesn’t seem like a good idea to anyone who values responsible and accountable law enforcement activities. He’s also implementing schedule changes he says he thinks will put more police officers on the streets, because he says he somehow determined that 40% of the department’s officers never leave the police station, even though he conducted no survey to arrive at that number. He just made it up.
Commissioner Montagnino came up with his proposals without consulting any members of the SSPD. That’s not an effective way to lead an organization. It’s a recipe for disloyalty, distrust, dysfunction, and chaos.
- Eileen Finneran, Former Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety City of Saratoga Springs
