Legislative Rundown: County eyes Kratom ban, Last call Time Defeated in Committee, and  appointment of a new judge. 

While Travers may be over and the sports world shifts its eyes away from Saratoga Springs, the city itself doesn’t stop. 

This week’s City Council meeting saw discussion over two major updates from the county public safety committee involving kratom and last call times and the appointment of a new city judge to the bench. 

Here’s the bi-weekly run down of legislative happenings in Saratoga Springs and beyond.

Last Call time Change Shot Down in Committee. 

A proposal by Saratoga Springs Supervisor Sarah Burger to set a public hearing to change last call time county wide from 4:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. was defeated by the Saratoga County Coard Public Safety Committee with only Saratoga Springs Supervisors Burger and Minita Sanghvi voting in favor of it. 

This isn’t the first time this matter has gone before the Board of Supervisors. A bill in April 2025 would have seen last call moved to 2:00 a.m. in the winter and 3:00 a.m. in the summer. That bill, however, failed when it was brought before a full vote of the Board of Supervisors.

During the meeting, Burger along with Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll and Assistant Chief Frederick Warfield pushed for the change citing public safety concerns including staffing costs, injuries due to fights, inability to properly cover other areas of the city, and officer burnout.

Warfield said that even though last call may be at 4:00 a.m., crowd are still out and about for another hour requiring police to maintain concentration in those areas — notably on the bar heavy Caroline Street. Warfield said that moving the time up would allow officers to leave the area sooner and catch DWIs in other parts of the city. 

“If the crowd starts reducing in size, those officers can actually leave Caroline Street and start patrolling the surrounding areas and proactively looking for DWI enforcement,” Warfield said. “Unfortunately, sometimes we have DWI incidents where we’re not aware the person was driving drunk until they crash and hit something, and then our officers go and respond to it.” 

Corinth Supervisor Eric Butler argued that he had a hard time passing a county law for an issue primarily centered in Saratoga Springs. 

Burger, however, pointed out that while there was an effort for a state law to create a carveout for Saratoga Springs to change last call time separate of the county time, that measure didn’t go anywhere and current guidance from the state liquor authority didn’t allow for cities to supersede the county in last call time. 

County to Propose Banning of Kratom 

It wasn’t all bar talk at the Public Safety Committee meeting as the committee advanced a resolution banning the sale of kratom in Saratoga County. 

The bill would make selling substances containing natural kratom leaf, mitragynine, 7- hydroxymitragynine, or other naturally occurring kratom alkaloids an unclassified unclassified misdemeanor in Saratoga County. If convicted, offenders could be punished by a year in jail, a $1000 fine or both. 

The only exception to the bill are any substances that are FDA approval and subsequently adhere to federal and state regulations. 

Sometimes called “gas station heroin” both the DEA and FDA recommend against using kratom due to a lack of research on the substance. The DEA announced in July 2026 that they intend on temporarily reclassing kratom with a 7-hydroxymitragynine percentage above .050 as a schedule one drug — similar to drugs such as LSD and ecstasy. 

For Saratoga County, the issue of Kratom is personal. In 2024, County Sewer District worker Nickolas Scribner died due to asphyxiation while taking the substance to deal with insomnia. His mother, Cari, pushed for more regulations after his death and her efforts lead the state to pass regulations on the sale of kratom statewide in December 2025.

The bill banning kratom at the county level is set to be introduced at the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors meeting later this month with a public hearing to be set for sometime in October. 

 New Judge Set to Take the Bench 

Mayor John Safford has announced the appointment of Vincent DeLeonardis as the new Saratoga Springs City Judge, replacing Jeffrey Wait whose term ends at the end of this year. He will serve as full-time judge from January 1, 2027- December 31, 2036.

DeLeonardis is no stranger to the city. A longtime resident, he graduated from Albany Law School in 2001 and worked in both private and corporate practice as a litigator.  He served as city attorney from 2014-2021. He currently serves as the chair of the City’s Charter Review Commission.