Everybody has the right to their own opinions, but not their own facts.

So I want you to know about the Ogdensburg NY City Council passed a resolution instructing their City Manager to eliminate 7 employees including 4 police officers. “But the authority to dismiss staff members rested solely with her, according to the City Charter; they couldn’t order her to take these actions,” which she refused to do. Source: NNY360

To be clear, according to their charter and the one proposed for Saratoga Springs, the elected City Council majority cannot force the appointed City Manager to fire anyone. I strongly believe that our elected officials are responsible for making these difficult decisions about what is best for our cities.

Google reveals that many (perhaps most) of the fights between City Managers and their City Councils are started by the weak Mayors who are fighting for more power than is allowed in their charters.

In Saratoga Springs, the proposed charter has a very weak Mayor, not much more than a ceremonial position. If you want leadership from elected officials, vote against the City Manager proposal which gives decision making to an appointed autocrat that you have no control over. 

– Corinne Scirocco, Saratoga Springs

Saratoga Springs’ citizens have an opportunity this year to move the City forward by adopting an amended City Charter which places professionalism and neighborhood representation over a government by- and for- the wealthy and well-connected.  A City Council, made up of representatives from districts across the City, will be responsive to the people of the City.  The Councilmembers will hire a professional City Manager, trained and experienced in running a city, to enact the policies and programs directed by the City Council.  Most cities of the size of Saratoga Springs have long-ago abandoned the City’s present form of government, structured around commissioners who not only serve as legislators, but also act as managers of departments for which they have no experience or training.  This is inefficient and results in city commissioners being responsive to their political supporters, not to ordinary taxpayers.  It is time for Saratoga Springs to say YES to its citizens and to vote YES to change to a Charter that values professional management and responsive government. 

– Ann C Bullock, Saratoga Springs 

Folks, we have a challenge on our hands in Saratoga Springs with an arrogant group working to change our form of government and divide our city into six political wards which will severely alter the way you are governed and allowed to vote.

Wards would divide our city arbitrarily based only on geography. Most wards would include both densely populated areas and homes many miles away on large lawns. Our wards would not be neighborhoods. 

As former Saratogian editor Barbara Lombardo wrote in her recent blog: “The claim that residents would gain better representation with wards is false and grossly misleading.”

You will only be allowed to vote for your ward politician and a mayoral candidate, leaving 5 of the 7 City Council members which you can neither vote for (or against) or even influence. You will be effectively disenfranchised in this proposed undemocratic ward system.

You have a much stronger voice with our current Commission government. 

Communicating directly with Commissioners who can solve my problem is much more effective than talking with a ward politician who the charter says could not work with any city employee other than the City Manager…a guaranteed bottleneck.

Wards were snuck into the 2020 proposal without any public input by an unknown group of people who felt that they were so important that they could ignore the 2017 Charter Committee decision after a public discussion not to include wards.

Divisive wards, disenfranchised voters, and secret decisions are just 3 reasons to vote no and stop this bad City Manager-Ward System.

– Bonnie Sellers, Member of the SUCCESS Board, a Saratoga Springs citizen’s organization of residents from all political parties which was formed to protect the Commission Form of Government.

I’m failing to see the financial savings, government improvement nor equal or improved accountability offered by the proposed new Charter. 

I think any reasonable guestimate would conclude that there will be at least a $200,000 increase in the cost of government. 

Saratoga Springs, THE JEWEL of New York State, has the second lowest city property tax rate. How much better will a City manager make it? Why is there no New York State city with a City Manager form of government that is a better place to live, with lower taxes?

We have the most accountable city government in the state. You get to vote for all the commissioners and the Mayor. If you don’t like the way a department is operating select a new commissioner in the next election, within two years. 

With the proposed new charter you get to vote for a largely ceremonial mayor and one ward representative. How do you change anything?

When our country is more divisive than I have ever seen it, the ward system will pit one area of Saratoga Springs against another instead of working together. 

I see nothing in this proposed charter change that makes any sense. 

– Ben Mirling, Former Commissioner of Accounts, Saratoga Springs

I am once again supporting the current form of government.  I am saddened to think that the people who want to change the current form of government support manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency to have the freedom to gerrymander the results they want.

– Miriam G. Scarborough, Saratoga Springs

I’ve long criticized Saratoga Springs’ form of government in which elected council members oversee specific aspects of City Hall, creating silos of administration. But the charter change now on the ballot would replace that shortcoming with one far worse – a ward system that would drastically reduce every city resident’s representation on the City Council and make elected officials less accountable. I’m voting no.

The claim that residents would gain better representation with wards is false and grossly misleading. 

The ward system minimizes our individual clout as voters. It eliminates council members’ accountability to all but the sixth of the city that elects them. We would get to vote for a mayor and only one of six council members, with no promise that even that one candidate – let alone the other five – would feel compelled to address the concerns of our particular neighborhood. 

I looked at a map of the election districts to see how areas were lumped together in the proposed charter (in Article XI, section C) to form six wards. Here are three examples:

Ward Three stretches from the city neighborhoods around the Caroline Street School to the sprawling estates in the Beacon Hill Drive area off Meadowbrook Road and the rural developments north of Route 29 toward Wilton.

Ward Four would combine the South Side (everything south of Lincoln Avenue, including Jefferson Terrace) with all the Saratoga Lake and Lake Lonely developments, more than three miles and a world away. 

Ward Six puts together the downtown West Side (including the Beekman Street arts district) with the more suburban housing around Buff Road.

You get the idea. 

Check out the map yourself. 

Bottom line: Every citizen should be able to vote for all of the City Council members.

There are other reasons to reject this charter change. Promised cost savings are dubious as is the timing of the ballot proposal, with people unable to assemble to discuss the pros and cons, not to mention the city budget hole caused by the pandemic. And the idea of a city manager appointed to oversee all city operations makes sense — but not accompanied by the unnecessary creation of a full-time mayor as proposed. 

I could get behind a new charter with an appointed city manager beholden to a City Council whose members answer to all Saratoga Springs voters. 

This charter change would radically reduce our voice. Vote no.

– Barbara Lombardo, Saratoga Springs

With no public discussion…not even Zoom meetings or press releases…the self-anointed charter change leaders were able to make the bad 2017 Saratoga Springs charter proposal much worse by 1. Adding Wards, and 2. Enriching the future mayor.

Wards mysteriously appeared on this year’s ballot rejecting their 2017 charter change committee which had decided against wards after discussing in a public meeting. 

And the proposed mayor’s salary was increased by another $25,000 to an excessive $65,000 for a part-time job, again ignoring 2017 committee members’ research and recommendations. 

Official committee minutes reveal: “Jeff Altamari said he had read through NYCOM data and the average salary of a Mayor with the City Manager was $19,000.” Rob Kuczynski said “that $40,000 was too high for the Mayor’s position. He reminded everyone that we will have a City Manager to do the work.” 

Since the mayor’s responsibilities are identical with 2017, ask yourself: Did someone push for this much higher salary for themselves hoping to get $65,000 for a part-time job? One candidate seems to be maneuvering already.

These two bad decisions that will make city government worse were made in a back room, rather than receiving public input. I’m voting No.

– Richard Sellers, Saratoga Springs

The answer. Since 1915 Saratoga’s residents have had direct access to the commissioners who govern our city.

This unity created the city we all enjoy today while maintaining its historicalcharm. The residents have one governing body where they bring ideas benefiting the whole city.

The proposed charter would divide the city into wards known as the “Inner East Side,” “North Side,” “Outer East Side,” “South Side,” “West Side,” and “South West Side.” Wards have their own elected council people.

These wards are known to become competitive and exist to promote their respective turfs.

Imagine, the city’s great benefactors speaking to six ward councils, in order to win over their approval for a project NOT IN THEIR WARD!

I hope anyone contemplating abolishing a system of government that has worked for over 100 years will vote down this proposed fragmented and expensive structure. It’s wrong to change what has worked so well over the many years. The present city form of government has welcomed many new residents and deserves the support of everyone. Vote No for charter change. 

– M. Thomas Porter, Saratoga Springs

It’s not often people thank you for taking their money and supplies. Just ask the IRS. But Operation Adopt A Soldier (OAAS) volunteers experienced that gratitude during our recent drive-through donation day at our temporary headquarters in Wilton.

Our all-volunteer, non-profit uses the donations to pack and ship free comfort kits for America’s soldiers serving in areas of conflict.

The always-generous public responded after hearing our August shipment was canceled because of depleted inventory; now we’ll be able to send 150 boxes before the end of the month. Then it’s on to September.

Every person who visited OAAS thanked and encouraged us for helping our soldiers as they donated money (each box carries a $12 postage fee), dropped off supplies and purchased shirts emblazoned with our motto: “Until they all come home.”

One family made a memorial donation in the name of Korean War veteran Robert Ovitt, of Queensbury, who died July 30. The proud paratrooper and Purple Heart recipient was wounded in 1953 in the horrendous battle for the famed Pork Chop Hill. A regular donor from White River Junction, VT, dropped off his traditional car load of supplies. There was the female veteran who gave three bags of supplies and money, then purchased shirts. An elderly woman stopped just long enough to give us a sealed, blank envelope and her thanks. We later discovered it held a sizable donation that dropped some volunteers’ jaws. We can only hope this anonymous donor reads this letter and knows how much we appreciate her concern for our soldiers.

As founder of OAAS and on behalf of all our volunteers, thank you to all who donated on our special day, which marked the one-year anniversary that a fire destroyed our Route 50, Wilton headquarters. 

Our brave troops also thank you.

– CLIFF SEGUIN, SARATOGA SPRINGS

This November, Saratogians will have the opportunity to vote on a significant change to the city charter. The city’s charter is the most important legal document of our city as it defines the structure, function and powers of our city government. It should be every voters’ priority, as our local government has a direct impact on our daily life.

I have taken a significant amount of time reviewing the proposed 2020 charter change document and believe that it is not healthy for our city. 

Of utmost concern to me personally is the Wards system. The Wards system pits neighborhoods against each other and does not foster peace. It also increases bureaucratic layers, making voters dependent on their Wardsperson and suppresses the power of an individual’s vote.

Not only does this expensive version of charter change transfer power away from the people and give it to an appointed bureaucrat called a City Manager that cannot be voted out, it politicizes our neighborhoods and sets up our city for division, not unity. We do not need that. Not now and not ever.

I hope that peace and love whisper in your heart as you consider these points, and that you join me in voting no on this particular version of charter change. Vote no on Election Day. 

Make Love, not Wards.

– Connie Woytowich, Saratoga Springs