Longtime legal counsel for the city of Saratoga Springs at City Hall in a recently captured image. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — It was February 1986. Ronald Reagan sat at the resolute desk in the Oval Office, the Space Shuttle Challenger had three weeks earlier met tragedy after it lifted off from Cape Canaveral, and the song “We Are The World” was poised to take home all kinds of awards at the 28th Grammy Awards.
Twenty-six year-old Tony Izzo saw a story in the local newspaper that read: Saratoga Needs Lawyers. He promptly headed to Broadway, met with the mayor and the city attorney, and 10 days later began his first day of work at City Hall.
“Thirty-nine years ago today I walked through that front door, thinking to myself that I had absolutely no idea what to expect,” Izzo recalled during the Feb. 18 meeting of the City Council, where he was honored for his years of service.
“Here it is, 39 years later, and when I walk through that front door, I still don’t know what to expect that day,” he said, after city Mayor John Safford read a proclamation to name the day in Anthony J. Izzo’s honor.
“Tony is one of the most familiar and most recognized public servants who gives unselfishly of his time and legal talents,” said the mayor, leading the honors at City Hall. “He is one of the least pretentious persons among us, and conducts himself with honestly, thoughtfulness and compassion.”
“You know I write so many of these proclamations for other people and I sit out there in the front row and watch the expressions on their faces,” said Izzo, who has served nearly one dozen mayors during his years of service as legal counsel for the city. “Now, I guess I know what it feels like.”
Saratoga County courthouse complex in Ballston Spa on Feb. 11, 2025. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
BALLSTON SPA — The immediate future of the decision-making process in Saratoga Springs likely rests in a forthcoming court ruling expected from Saratoga County State Supreme Court Judge James Walsh regarding just over 100 contested election ballots.
The contest to seat a DPW Commissioner/fifth member of the City Council through the remainder of the 2025 calendar year pits Democratic Party candidate Hank Kuczynski against Republican Party candidate Chuck Marshall.
Marshall, whose name is on the ballot, currently serves as chair of the Saratoga Springs Planning Board. Kuczynski, whose name is not on the ballot, was supported as a write-in candidate, and has since Oct. 29 served as interim DPW Commissioner.
At the crux of the issue: 106 contested ballots and whether those ballots were appropriately marked by voters to accurately show their intent.
The Saratoga Springs special election to decide the seat included nine days of early voting in advance of last Tuesday’s Jan. 28 Election Day. That was followed by two days of inspecting ballots in the basement vault of the Saratoga County Board of Elections. Subsequently, 106 contested ballots found their way to Republican Saratoga County State Supreme Court Judge James Walsh.
With just over 3,500 ballots counted in a race too-close-to-call, if Judge Walsh rules the 106 contested ballots not be counted, Marshall will emerge as the victor by about 97 votes. If the ballots are ruled to be counted, Kuczynski will secure victory by about nine votes. Subsequent to the decision, it is not known whether either side may file an appeal.
Court was in session to debate the matter for the better part of four hours on Friday, Feb. 7.
Candidate Kuczynski and Candidate Marshall were both present in the courtroom as were a variety of legal representatives for the Democratic and Republican parties as well as for the Board of Elections commissioners – John Sweeney among them. Sweeney, a former local congressman, was also famously involved in the counting during Florida’s presidential vote between George Bush and Al Gore in 2000.
Attorneys submitted written arguments in support of their respective client to the court on Monday, Feb. 10.
In addition to the 106 contested ballots, there were 25 undervotes – that is, ballots cast but with no discernible candidate name chosen. The status of those undervotes is not known.
The date for the return of 35 to 40 outstanding military ballot votes reached its deadline this week. None of those outstanding ballots were returned, according to the county Board of Elections.
All five Saratoga Springs City Council positions – four commissioners and a mayor – will be up for new two-year terms this November.
NYS Court of Claims Judge Kathleen B. Hogan and James A. Murphy, III, unveil a portrait of Murphy at a ceremony in Ballston Spa on Feb. 7, 2025. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
BALLSTON SPA — A ceremony celebrating James Murphy’s decades of service to the community was held at the Saratoga County Court complex in Ballston Spa Feb. 7.
Murphy retired in December as Saratoga County Court Judge and Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, after 10 years of service.
Draped in black judicial robes, Murphy was gracious with his comments toward all who packed into the courtroom and came to celebrate him, as well as those who played a role alongside his development. Included among the list were teams of court attorneys and secretaries, county workers and court system members past and present, justices, and his wife and two daughters.
“I take a minute to say all of those things because every single one of those people have meant so much to me,” Murphy said, as 12 justices wearing black robes looked on from their seats in the jury box. Several dozen other people filled the public gallery of the Saratoga County Supreme Court Courthouse.
During the ceremony, Murphy also singled out for gratitude Saratoga County Bar Association President and Saratoga Springs City Court Judge Francine Vero “for her leadership of the bar association and her generosity in commissioning this portrait and organizing such a meaningful unveiling ceremony,” as well as NYS Court of Claims Judge Kate Hogan “for her years of friendship and support throughout my career.” The Saratoga County Bar Association sponsored the ceremony.
Prior to his election to the bench, Murphy served 25 years as a prosecutor – elected to the post of Saratoga County District Attorney in 1997 and re-elected to subsequent 4-year terms in 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013.
“The first minute I met Kate, I knew that I had found a friend. You know how some people you just click with? She was that person for me, and that was many, many years ago,” Murphy said of Hogan. ‘We shared lots of discussions about lots of cases – sticky situations, how do we do this? What are your suggestions? We lobbied the legislature for meaningful justice reform,” he added. “Judging can be an isolating event. You only really have your core attorney to discuss cases with – and it’s nice to have somebody else to bounce things off. When Kate joined the bench and became a member of the judiciary, it was wonderful for me. When asked who I wanted to unveil the portrait with me, Kate Hogan was the only answer. She’s like family.”
Together, they lifted the blue draperies covering the free-standing frame and revealed the portrait of Murphy.
“I Just want to say…I don’t think my head is actually that big!” he quipped, eyeballing the portrait, his commentary met with much laughter. The portrait will be displayed in the Saratoga County Courthouse, joining the esteemed ranks of past jurists who have shaped the Court’s history.
“This portrait is not just a personal honor but a tribute to the institution we serve. Serving the people of the state of New York and Saratoga County has been the privilege of a lifetime. I have worked alongside some of the most dedicated and talented people – many of whom are here today and all committed to making our community better always remembering service above self,” said Murphy as he begins the next chapter of his life with Behan Communications, Inc., helping to oversee business development efforts and working directly with crisis communication and public affairs clients.
“I’m honored that my portrait will hang in the courtroom where I spent so many years as D.A. and as judge. And I hope, when you see this oversized head looking down at you – you’ll know I’m right there in the trenches with you, cheering you on as you continue to do the great work you do. “
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Longtime local resident and Tuskegee Airman Clarence Dart will be celebrated by daughter Cynthia Providence in a Saratoga Springs Preservation program on Thursday, Feb. 20.
Dart, who died in 2012 at the age of 91, flew 95 missions overseas during World War II. Twice, he survived being shot down by the enemy.
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American military pilots and support personnel who served during World War II. Trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, they were part of the U.S. Army Air Corps, which later became the U.S. Air Force.
The accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen are credited with influencing President Harry Truman to officially desegregate the U.S. military in 1948. It was the same year Dart relocated to Saratoga Springs. He married his wife, Mildred, in June 1950 and the couple raised their family of seven daughters and two sons in the Spa City.
For his service Dart received two Purple Hearts for injuries sustained during air combat, the Air Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, the WWII Victory Medal, and the American Defense Medal, the NYS Conspicuous Service Cross, and the NYS Conspicuous Service Star.
While he fought for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four freedoms, when Dart returned home from the war there was no heroic welcome, and no job that was available to him to fulfill his dream of being a commercial airplane pilot.
It took more than 60 years for recognition to come. In 2007, Dart was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, alongside other Tuskegee Airmen in the Capitol Rotunda.
Providence will share her perspective on her father’s remarkable achievements, personal journey, and the challenges he faced within a unit that, while highly esteemed today, may not have been fully valued at the time. She will also reflect on the lasting impact of his legacy on future generations.
The virtual program – “Tuskegee Airmen: Lt. Col. Clarence Dart” – will be hosted via Zoom for a donation of $10 or more, at 7 p.m. on Feb. 20. To register, visit www.saratogapreservation.org or call 518-587-5030. All registrants will receive a Zoom link in advance, as well as access to the program recording.
Police cruiser on Lake Avenue on Feb. 7, 2025. Photo: SSPD.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A 76-year-old Malta man was taken into custody Feb. 7, suspected of firing “several rounds from a shotgun” that resulted in the battered chassis of a city police cruiser resting outside of the Lake Avenue stationhouse, as well as a vehicle struck by gunfire on nearby Division Street.
Police said the incident began at 6:55 pm Friday, Feb. 7 when dispatchers received a call about a man believed to be firing a gun on Division Street, just west of Broadway. Almost an hour later, at 7:43 p.m., the sergeant assigned to Lake Avenue police headquarters heard a gunshot at the station, looked outside, and observed a man pointing a long gun at the building.
Officers inside the station promptly exited the building and pointed their guns at the alleged shooter who “at this point had entered a vehicle and was driving away,” according to police. The suspect fled down Route 9 with officers in their vehicles in pursuit, eventually pulling into the parking lot at the Market 32 in Malta and taken into police custody.
No officers or members of the public were injured and none of the officers fired their weapons, police said.
Following their questioning of the man, identified as 76-year-old Paul Trinci of Malta, authorities said: “indications during interviewing the suspect allude to his desire to create a deadly force engagement with the police.”
Trinci’s statements, documented as “spontaneous utterances” according to court documents, admitted to “drinking a lot,” and confirmed police reports of his desire to create a deadly force engagement with them.
Trinci was arraigned in Saratoga Springs City Court and remanded to the custody of the County Sheriff without bail, according to a police statement. No future court date was announced.
Trinci was charged with six felonies – attempted assault, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal use of a firearm, reckless endangerment and two counts criminal mischief; numerous misdemeanors including: DWI, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful fleeing a police officer, as well as various traffic infractions.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The City Council this week unanimously approved the creation of a Parking Violations Bureau as a more efficient method of adjudicating tickets issued for parking infractions. The new bureau will decide parking infraction charges prior to trial.
How it will work: anyone charged with a certain type of specific parking infractions can submit documentation or a signed and written explanation to the staff of the Bureau requesting charges be reduced or dismissed.
Assistant City Attorney Tony Izzo was named as the person to make a formal judgment or decision regarding a disputed matter at the Parking Violations Bureau. Additionally, three current employees of the city’s department of public safety will be assigned to conduct the new bureau’s work, so no additional city costs are anticipated.
The specified violations are as follows:
a. Parking in handicapped zone – must submit proof of a valid handicap parking tag or permit.
b. Unregistered motor vehicle – must provide photo of new valid registration or temporary registration affixed to window within 72 hours of the issuance of the ticket.
c. Failure to display current registration – must provide photo of new valid registration or temporary registration affixed to window within 72 hours of the issuance of the ticket.
d. Uninspected motor vehicle – must provide documentation that the vehicle has been inspected within 72 hours of the issuance of the ticket.
e. Obstructing loading zone – must provide documentation that the vehicle was parked or standing temporarily to load and/or unload goods, wares or merchandise. Such documentation may include correspondence from business owners, invoices, or receipts.
f. Vehicle malfunction or breakdown – must provide documentation of services rendered to remove or repair the vehicle.
g. Medical emergency – must provide documentation from health care personnel, medical staff, or other person or persons that a medical emergency existed. A detailed description of the medical emergency is not required.
h. Death of vehicle owner – must submit reasonable proof.
After review, the person charged may either accept or reject the disposition proposed by the adjudicator, and ask for a hearing before the adjudicator, or a trial in Saratoga Springs City Court.
Expressing a desire to alter bar closing times in Saratoga Springs, the council took steps this week to attempt to fulfill that goal. And while It is an effort that the city has expressed numerous times in the past, the ultimate outcome this time around may be different.
“This is something that has been debated in the city for at least 10 years and it’s been difficult to get Saratoga County to move on the issue,” said Supervisor Matt Veitch, who represents the city at the county level, and is also vice chairperson of the county supervisor board.
“The time is right for this to be discussed with my fellow colleagues on the Board of Supervisors. I believe we will have some momentum on this moving forward in 2025,” he said.
Currently, the New York State Alcoholic Beverage Control Law prohibits sales of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption in Saratoga County between the hours of 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sunday, and between the hours of 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. on any other day.
Bar closing times can only be changed by a county resolution to the State Liquor Authority, meaning the city on its own cannot affect bar closing times, Veitch clarified. “You need the county support for that.”
How the process works: the city will send is resolution – which it unanimously approved Feb. 4 – to the county. The county Board of Supervisors will consider it, and if the board agrees it will then forward their recommendation to the N.Y.S. Liquor Authority. The SLA has the ultimate authority to decide the matter, which will affect bar closing times countywide.
“I’ve been having discussions with other (county) supervisors and I think there’s an openness now to discuss bar closing times,” Veitch told the City Council during its Feb. 4 meeting. “It will definitely be earlier than (the current) 4 a.m.,” Veitch said. “I’m not sure exactly what the final debate will be at the county level, but it won’t be a blanket 2 a.m. year-round…I think one thing that will remain 4 a.m. is New Year’s Eve, but other than that it will be earlier.”
“From a public safety perspective, the Saratoga Springs command staff – the police department supports the earlier closing times,” said Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll. “To reduce the hours with earlier closing times has the potential for us to reduce overtime as well as to keep officers safer,” he said, adding that Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo had also expressed to Coll his support for earlier closing times.
It is unclear what timeline the measure would take, but the county Law & Finance Committee – which is chaired by Veitch – next meets Feb. 12. That subcommittee typically forwards its recommendations for approval to the county Board of Supervisors. That Board holds its next monthly meeting on Feb. 20.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The City Council this week approved a Local Law that will increase the wages of future councilmembers, starting with the next City Council in 2026.
Currently the five council members each receive $14,500 annually. Beginning in 2026, the four commissioners will receive $27,456 per year, and city mayor $42,456 annually.
Wages specific to the five council members have not seen an increase for at least the past 15 years. Each of the five seated members is an equal voting member in city government. The general consensus allowing for the higher increase specified in the mayoral seat is that by being the city’s official representative, the position requires an investment of additional time.
The measure was approved by a 3-2 vote, with current Mayor John Safford and Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll voting against the resolution.
Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi said the four commissioner salaries were based on a minimum wage formula that works out to about 33 hours per week and also allowed those employed to meet the state’s 1:1 ratio in the N.Y. State retirement system.
The length of each councilmembers’ term will remain at two years. In November 2025, all four commissioner positions as well as the mayor’s seat will be up for election.
The vault at Saratoga County Board of Elections, Jan. 29, 2025. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
BALLSTON SPA — Framed by a spire-topped church erected in 1835 that heralds a letterboard reading “God’s House, All Are Welcome,” and a single-story family home where a human figure in flannel clothes is, on this day busily shoveling away a late January snowfall, stands the county Board of Election complex, where inside a sublevel vault that runs maybe 50 feet long, ballots will be counted to presumably decide the winner of Saratoga Springs’ Special Election.
Following nine days of Early Voting, and a 15-hour Special Election Day across Saratoga Springs on Jan. 28, the contest to decide the city’s DPW Commissioner/fifth City Council member through calendar year 2025 returned no known victor.
Democrat Hank Kuczynski, the interim DPW Commissioner, ran as a write-in candidate. A total of 1,725 write-in votes were secured, although it is not yet known how many of those write-ins carried Kuczynski’s name.
It is anticipated that a winner will not be known until at least next week. The counting of ballots will take place at the county Board of Elections complex in Ballston Spa. At press time, no date for the start of the counting process had been announced.
Also of note: there are just under 300 absentee ballots yet to be returned. Regular absentee ballots need to be received at the BOE by Feb. 4; Military ballots by Feb. 10.
A total of 3,409 votes have been tallied, according to unofficial reports from the Board of Elections. That represents about 16% of all active registered voters in Saratoga Springs.
The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 4.
In November all five city council seats will be up for vote.
“We celebrate the idea that our city is not just a collection of streets and buildings, but a living, breathing symphony…”
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A new commission will be appointed to review the City Charter and recommend potential changes, and an earlier Last Call for local bars were among the 2025 agenda items announced during the mayor’s State of the City Address at the Skip Scirocco/ Saratoga Music Hall in Saratoga Springs on Jan. 23.
All five council members and both city supervisors were each allotted time to address the assembled crowd, which included former city Mayor Scott Johnson and current state Sen. Jim Tedisco.
Framed by a trio of flags, one each representing city, state and country, city council members and supervisors reflected upon achievements in 2024 – the opening of a new fire station among them, potential future challenges, and plans for 2025, from addressing heavy truck traffic navigating local streets to anticipating the return of the Belmont on Broadway festival.
City Mayor John Safford announced he will be establishing a commission that will be chaired by Vince DeLeonardis to review the City Charter “and make recommendations for improvement.”
Supervisor Matt Veitch spoke about a decades-long debate involving attempts to institute earlier bar closing times in Saratoga Springs, explaining that any such measure may only be achieved if first adopted on a countywide basis with county support.
“The time is right for this to be discussed with my fellow colleagues on the Board of Supervisors,” said Veitch, who serves as vice chairperson of the county supervisors board. “I believe we will have some momentum on this moving forward in 2025.” Veitch additionally reported that in the county’s just-received year-over-year sales tax numbers for January, “we are trending negative for the first time since 2020.”
Supervisor Michele Madigan highlighted a report released by the state comptroller on Jan. 22 detailing that homelessness in New York state has more than doubled between January 2022 and January 2024, specifically increasing 138% in Glens Falls, Saratoga Springs and surrounding counties.
This year’s SOTC Address takes place during a week when Early Voting is underway for a special city election to seat an elected DPW Commissioner for the remainder of the 2025 calendar year. The DPW department spearheaded last year’s inaugural paid parking program in the city; nothing was said during the SOTC regarding whether that parking plan may return this year.
City Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi confirmed that she will not seek re-election in November.
Poet Laureate Joseph Bruchac opened the evening with two poems – one named “Harmony,” another “Civility” – two themes city Mayor Safford has riffed on since taking office in January 2024.
“Words spoken calmly with others in mind, like the instruments in an orchestra, they blend into a symphony that finds a good place,” said Bruchac to begin the night. It was a theme city Mayor Sanford returned to at the night’s conclusion one hour and fifteen minutes later.
“We celebrate the idea that our city is not just a collection of streets and buildings, but a living, breathing symphony…the great composition of our shared life,” the mayor said. “This year, our song continues.”
