At the June 16 Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting, Finance Commissioner JoAnne Kiernan did a presentation on the city’s finances. People who follow this blog know that I have written extensively, and regrettably, about the utter mismanagement in the Finance Department under former Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi. For four years, Ms. Sanghvi failed to provide accurate and readable financial reports. As her email auto reply continued to affirm during her term in office, she viewed her job as part-time, and the result has been a debacle. She simply failed to devote the time required to both understand and manage the city’s money. Her budgets often had wildly optimistic assumptions about city income and projected expenses that were obviously inadequate given past spending patterns. Now the proverbial chickens have come home to roost.
In a report to the Council, Kiernan, without naming Sanghvi, detailed how the finance office under Sanghvi dangerously squandered the city’s reserves to hide the utter inability of her office to carry out the most basic of fiscal procedures. It has left the city vulnerable by squandering its financial reserves and failing to craft a way by which the city could live within its means.
Sanghvi Systematically Drained The City’s Reserves
Kiernan’s presentation included several charts documenting the city’s financial problems.
The chart below documents how Sanghvi ran continual deficits of increasing size. She balanced the books by drawing on the city’s reserves rather than controlling costs or increasing revenues. The bitter truth was that her budgets documented her utter ignorance of the city’s spending.
The tan/yellow line at the top of this chart shows the city’s actual expenditures each year from 2022. The green line displays how much the city took in as revenue. At the bottom, in blue, is the 2022 surplus (Sanghvi drew on the budget created by former Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan), and in red are the growing annual deficits.
The city is required to maintain a certain percentage in reserve money each year. Sanghvi managed to blow the huge reserve she inherited from Michele Madigan. The city is now just above the city’s minimum surplus required by New York State.
What The Auditor Revealed
Emblematic of the problem was the revelation at the beginning of this year that this city’s accounting firm was unable to audit our books. The firm cited that the city’s books are in disarray.
Finance Commissioner JoAnne Kiernan is a stand-up professional. Note that she never mentions Minita Sanghvi by name, but her presentation was easy to understand, and its implications were devastating.
This city finally has a real professional who does not view her role as “only part-time” as her predecessor did. Kiernan is an accountant by profession, and it shows.
The video is 32 seconds.
Some of the Auditor’s Observations
Incomplete reconciliations [JK: Absolutely stunning revelation. This is fundamental to any kind of bookkeeping.]
Insufficient documentation for journal entries
Failure to use the city’s microfiche software as part of the city’s internal control process
Misposting of financial information
Spreadsheets not updated to reflect actual transactions
Problems with bond payments, postings, and fund transfers “due to and from” accounts
Required interest payments were not completed
Commissioner Coll and Commissioner Kiernan Discuss Who Was Responsible For The Crisis (2 minutes 17 seconds)
A Great Presentation On The State Of The City’s Finances (5 minutes 27 seconds)
This video is of Commissioner Kiernan’s full presentation on the city’s finances. It’s not long, and it is very well done. You will not need an accounting degree to follow her slides and commentary.
I have to start off this post by asking why anyone from our city would supposedly seek to weaken our representation in our county government. This makes no sense, but this is what Gordon Boyd and Sarah Burger want us to believe.
Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee member Gordon Boyd and Saratoga Springs County Supervisor Sarah Burger, who is also on the Democratic committee, have continued to champion misinformation about a proposed charter change despite copious data and documents to the contrary. The extreme gap between reality and their allegations is nothing short of breathtaking. They have been falsely asserting that the proposed charter language would jeopardize the city’s representation on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors. In remarks at the June 2, 2026, City Council meeting, Boyd went even further to falsely claim that remarks by Charter Review Commission member and former County Supervisor Matt Veitch and former Public Safety Commissioner and charter commission member Lew Benton now exposed some kind of grand conspiracy involving the town of Halfmoon.
In fact, both Veitch and Benton voted in favor of the proposed change to the Supervisor language, as did every other member of the bipartisan Commission, and they still support it.
Lew Benton, former Public Safety Commissioner and County Planner, has done a tremendous service by extensively documenting state, county, and city laws, relating to the disputed Supervisor language, along with a detailed history of the evolution of the relevant county and city statutes, in an email at the bottom of this post. Its thoroughness and specificity contrast dramatically with the disheartening stream of unsubstantiated sound bites meant to confuse the public, expressed by Boyd and Berger.
I welcome Gordon Boyd and Supervisor Burger to respond to Lew’s analysis. I promise to post whatever they submit unedited.
Some Background Regarding The Current Charter Commission
The current Charter Commission was appointed by Mayor John Safford in 2025. It includes representatives from both major parties, along with some members who have registered as unaffiliated with any political party. Most importantly, it includes a number of attorneys, including former city attorneys, who serve as resources for the committee on both the city’s operations and the federal, state, county, and local statutes that affect our city’s power. City Assistant Attorney Tony Izzo, who has served as staff to most, if not all, the former charter commissions, also attends the Commission’s meetings. A number of the current Charter Commission members have served on previous charter commissions.
Here are the 11 members of the Commission:
Vince DeLeonardis chairs the Commission. He served as the City Attorney during two administrations. He is not registered in a political party. He was originally appointed by Joanne Yepsen, a Democrat, and later by Meg Kelly, also a Democrat.
Matt Dorsey served as the City Attorney of Saratoga Springs under both Republican Mayor Scott Johnson and Republican Mayor Michael Lenz. He is a registered Republican.
Michael Lenz served as the city’s Mayor and as Finance Commissioner. He is a registered Republican
Deidre Ladd works for New York Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, a Democrat, and is a member of the city’s Democratic Committee. She was a former Deputy Finance Commissioner under Democrat Michele Madigan.
Lew Benton served as the city’s Commissioner of Public Safety. He is a registered Democrat
Matt Jones is a partner in the law firm Jones, Steves, Grassi.
Stephen Towne served as Commissioner of Accounts. He is a CPA who has been employed by a large national accounting firm. He is a Republican.
Robert Murphy Jr. retired from the Saratoga Springs Fire Department, where he rose to the rank of assistant chief. He is currently the EMS coordinator for St. Peter’s Hospital. I do not know his registration.
Dorothy Rogers-Bullis is the founder and principal owner of drb Business Interiors. She has been a member of the City Center Board since 2017 and was appointed chair in 2024. I do not know her registration.
Molly Corbett is an attorney. She serves as a Supervisor in the Albany office of the Federal Defenders of New York.
Matt Veitch served as Saratoga Springs County Supervisor from 2008 until 2025, and served as the Board’s chair. He is a registered Republican, but he was recognized by the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee and given an award for his bi-partisan work at their annual Starbuck luncheon.
This is a very impressive set of individuals overall, and the Commission is particularly strong in the field of law.
A thoughtful reader has to ask, why, as alleged by Boyd and Burger, would these people conspire to craft legislation to weaken the city’s representation at the county level? Remember, the vote was unanimous. It makes no sense because it is simply not true.
Gordon Boyd’s Disgraceful Misuse of Individuals Serving This City on the Commission. He Seems Unable to Distinguish Truth from Fiction, Blatantly Misrepresenting the Charter Commission Members’ Remarks
During the public comment period of the June 2, 2026, City Council meeting Boyd asserted:
“The charge you (the members of the city council) are putting into effect is to allow the county to reduce the number of supervisors that represent the city in Saratoga County.”
Gordon Boyd
While Mr. Boyd has repeatedly claimed that the city is allowing the county to reduce our representation by changing the wording of the charter, the city has no authority to affect the county’s decision on representation in any way. The county has enjoyed the legal authority to draft how communities are represented since the late 1700’s. As recently as 2021, the county redrafted the electoral map following the federal census results. It is truly bizarre that Boyd should want to sell this patently false narrative that the city has sovereignty.He knows better.
This is being done for the town of Halfmoon. This is what this is for. This is for this council to provide a permission slip that you are being asked to adopt that allows the town of Halfmoon supervisor to maintain his 25,666 weighted votes on the board.
Gordon Boyd
Boyd confusingly claims that changing the wording of the Saratoga Springs charter is intended to affect the county representation of the town of Halfmoon, a matter that was determined 6 years ago. He fails to explain how this minor change in the language of the Saratoga Springs charter will affect Halfmoon’s representation or what malevolent motive the Commission members have for supporting the change.
What is most disgraceful is the way Boyd misrepresents comments made by Matt Veitch and Lew Benton at a Charter Commission meeting to claim they support his wild accusations. Veitch and Benton merely informed Boyd of the history of the Halfmoon Supervisor Kevin Tollison’s successful opposition to sharing representation for his town with anyone after the 2020 census. Both Veitch and Benton voted for the proposed Supervisor text change, as did everyone else on the Commission, and they are still in support of that change. It verges on real craziness for Boyd and his allies to allege that the deal for Tollison six years ago would somehow be affected by a tweak in the Saratoga Springs charter six years later.
Burger Supports Boyd’s Story And Opposes Text Change On Supervisors
Saratoga Springs County Supervisor Sarah Burger began her remarks at the same Council meeting with a long and disingenuous statement praising the Charter Review Commission members and their work. This did not stop her from continuing the narrative that the language proposed by the Commission for the Supervisors would somehow disenfranchise Saratogians. Most grotesquely, she suggested that adopting this work of the Commission would be somehow racist. She never explains how it would be racist, nor, despite being a lawyer, does she explain what was wrong with the text proposal. Instead, she offered the folksy, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
It Is Broke
The Mayor charged the Commission with developing two sets of recommendations regarding the charter. State law requires that certain changes, including those that would affect the powers of elected officials in our charter, be made only by referendum. State law also provides that other changes to the charter may be made by a majority of the City Council.
Our charter has not been changed in decades. There are elements to the charter that are inconsistent and obsolete. There are elements of our charter that unnecessarily undermine efficiency. There are also simple grammatical elements that need cleaning up. The charter also needed greater clarity on how to fill vacancies on the Council, as demonstrated by the confusion that followed former Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub’s resignation. These are the changes the Charter Commission has forwarded to the City Council for their consideration.
The proposed changes to the charter to be considered by the Council are relatively minor. Mr. Boyd and Ms. Burger apparently had to resort to creating a dubious controversy to discredit the Charter Review Commission because the proposed changes were all modest and merited. As I observed earlier, why would the Commission, with diverse backgrounds and expertise vote unanimously to propose that the City Council sabotage our representation in county government?
The real question is why Boyd and Burger want the public to falsely think the Commission and potentially the Council want to do this.
Benton White Paper
Some Thoughts on the City’s Most Recent Tempest in a Teapot
I understand Gordon Boyd gave me an honorable mention at the June 2 Council hearing on proposed amendments to the City Charter. I suppose I should be flattered.
As told to me, Gordon was speaking against a proposed change to TITLE 2.1,Officers, eligibility, terms of office, salaries.
That Title lists City elected officers. In addition to the Mayor and the four Commissioners, it includes “Two Supervisors”. As a member of the 2000 – 2001 Charter Revision Commission I can safely say that the “Two” simply recognized the status quo that had (has) existed since 1968.
But in hindsight, that language was ill advised for it may have suggested that the number of supervisors representing the City in Ballston Spa was a function reserved to Charter law. It is not. But it has now been, innocently or not, misrepresented. Perhaps those with open minds will consider the facts of the matter before taking sides.
As I understand it, Gordon somehow misinterpreted remarks I made as a member of the current City Charter Review Commission as supportive of his position against the proposed new language. I regret any misinterpretation or misunderstanding of comments I may have made, for I support the new language and voted to advance it to the City Council for its consideration. Why? Because the new language correctly recognizes that more than one supervisor representing any County municipality, predicated on population thresholds established by the Board of Supervisors, consistent with the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law.
The proposed new language reads “One or more Supervisors as may be established by County Law.” The proposed new language simply represents that by NYS Law the County determines, following each Decennial Census, the population threshold that triggers how many additional supervisors a town or city will have. Apparently Gordon and others falsely believe that the City through its Charter, local law or resolution may determine the number of Saratoga Springs Supervisors. It can not.
No city in New York can unilaterally decide how many representatives it has on a County Board of Supervisors. Because county legislative bodies must comply with “one person, one vote” constitutional standards, the apportionment of representatives is determined by the county and state, not by individual municipalities.
Understanding how representation is structured in New York clarifies why a city cannot make this decision on its own.
County Jurisdiction: Apportionment and representation on a county Board of Supervisors are exclusively county-level matters. Any changes must be enacted by the county through the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law.
Constitutional “One Person, One Vote”: In the 1960s, courts mandated that all county legislative bodies must provide equal representation based on population. If a city’s population represents X percentage of the total county population, its combined representation or total voting power must reflect that exact percentage.
Weighted Voting: In counties that still utilize a Board of Supervisors (rather than elected county legislators), city and town supervisors’ voting power is mathematically weighted based on the population they represent.
City Charters: While a city has the power under the Municipal Home Rule Law to amend its own city charter it cannot dictate the structural makeup of the county board.
Any changes to the number of city representatives, their districts, or their voting weights require a county-wide redistricting plan or a revision of the county charter. Saratoga is non-charter. county. As such, it is guided by NYS County Law, the NYS General Municipal Law and the NYS Municipal Home Rule Law.
Brief History of the Transition and Maintenance of the Saratoga County’s Fractional Weighted Voting System and Number of Supervisors
Before the late 1960s, the Board of Supervisors operated on a traditional one-municipality-one representative model, as it had since it was established in 1791. This meant that rural towns with tiny populations had the same voting power as rapidly growing urban and suburban areas.
Not until 1986 did the County, as part of its 21st Century Study Commission appointed by then Supervisor Roy McDonald, seriously consider a change of form. Part of that initiative included a Saratoga County Government Study element, chaired by then-Charlton Supervisor Fred Hequembourg. I served as staff.
The Hequembourg study group ultimately decided not to recommend transitioning to a charter county with a county legislature but did move to create an appointed County Administrator title along with other modest changes. It seems we are stuck with a antiquated County government and there is no initiative to change it, certainly not from within.
Saratoga Springs transitioned from one to two county supervisors following the adoption of Saratoga County Local Law No. 2 of 1968. This law restructured the Board of Supervisors to comply with the federal one -person-one-vote constitutional redistricting principles.
With its 1962 decision in Baker v. Carr, the US Supreme Court established that redistricting questions are justiciable (meaning they are legal questions the courts can resolve rather than political questions left to legislators) under the Equal Protection Clause. Then, the Court’s 1964 decision in Reynolds v. Sims established the “one person, one vote” doctrine, which requires every state legislative district to contain roughly the same number of people. When each representative has the same number of constituents, people are equally represented, and their votes have an equal opportunity to influence policies in their state.
In decisions made in 1962 (Baker v. Carr) and 1964 (Wesberry v. Sanders, Reynolds v. Sims) the United States Supreme Court made clear that the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution requires legislative districts to be “substantially equal in population.”
In 1968 this principle was extended by the Court to apply to local governments (Avery v. Midland County).
Towns and cities within counties were, of course, not equal in population. Thus in 1968 counties with boards of supervisors found their governance structure immediately in violation of the U.S. constitution. Faced with this legal dilemma, those counties wishing to retain the Board of Supervisors form – and not opt to adopt charters and legislatures – had to structure an alternative approach meet the complying with 1962 one-person-one mandate.
Historically, most of NY’s 57 counties outside New York City were governed by boards of supervisors. Today only 16 retain the board of supervisors form. The boards are made of the supervisors of each of the towns and cities in the county, augmented by additional supervisors elected from wards within each city (if any) in the county. However, since Saratoga Springs elects its representatives at large and not by wards or districts, its number of supervisors is determined by the same process applied to the Counties 19 towns.
One option that allowed retaining a board of supervisors, while also abiding by the one-person-one-vote decision was to create a weighted voting system that equally represented citizens by giving supervisors different voting strength within the board, based upon their municipality’s size relative to that of other towns and cities in the county. And by LOCAL LAW NO. 2 OF 1968, the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors did just that.
1968 (The Local Law): Prompted by federal court mandates enforcing proportional representation, Saratoga County passed Local Law No. 2. This established a population-based threshold system. Municipalities would automatically receive an additional county supervisor once their population crossed a specific threshold (initially set for one supervisor per 12,000 residents, and amended over the decades to 27,500 following the 2020 Census.
Of course, to maintain Constitutional compliance the County must amend the original 1968 Local Law following certification of each successive Decennial Census to reflect population changes. The next census will be conducted in 2030. Baring a change in the current 27,500 threshold, current 2030 population estimates would result in No Change to the Board’s composition. Only Saratoga Springs and Clifton Park would have two supervisors, the other 19 municipalities would have one.
Following the certified results of the 2020 Decennial Census, the County Board of Supervisors adopted the following Local Law. It details its most current makeup and establish the 27,500 threshold
COUNTY OF SARATOGA LOCAL LAW – 2022
A LOCAL LAW TO AMEND LOCAL LAW NO. 2 OF 1968, AS LAST AMENDED BY LOCAL LAW NO. 5 OF 2011, TO INCREASE THE POPULATION THRESHOLD FOR AN ADDITIONAL COUNTY SUPERVISOR
BE IT ENACTED by the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors as follows:
SECTION 1. That paragraphs a.) and b.) of Section 2 of Local Law No. 2 of 1968, as last amended by Local Law 5 of 2011, be amended as follows:
“SECTION 2. Such system of weighted voting shall be as follows:
a.) Each municipality shall elect one (1) Supervisor where its population is less than [25,000] 27,500 according to the latest decennial census and each Supervisor shall cast one (1) vote for each person in [his] their district according to such census.
b.) Where any such municipality shall have a population of [25,000] 27,500 one additional Supervisor shall be elected therefrom and one additional thereafter as each whole multiple of [25,000] 27,500 is attained. Such Supervisors shall each cast that number of votes arrived at by dividing the total population of each municipality by the number of its Supervisors.”
SECTION 2. That SECTION 3. of said Local Law No. 2 of 1968, as last amended by
Local Law No. 5 of 2011, be further amended as follows:
“SECTION 3. The composition of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors shall consist of twenty-three (23) Supervisors, with two (2) Supervisors each from the City of Saratoga Springs and the Town of Clifton Park, and one (1) Supervisor each from the City of Mechanicville and the remaining Towns of the County of Saratoga, and, hereafter, such number shall automatically increase by the addition of an additional Supervisor from each Town or City as its population, based on a County-wide Official Federal Census, shall reach [25,000] 27,500 or whole multiples thereof.”
SECTION 3. This Local Law is subject to a permissive referendum as provided in
Section 24 of the Municipal Home Rule Law.
SECTION 4. This Local Law shall take effect after it is filed as provided by law.
Up until now, the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee has been mounting a focused attack on only one proposed charter change, the one that would affect the wording regarding the city’s County Supervisors. In a recent email to the four Saratoga Springs City Council members endorsed by One Saratoga and the chair and vice chair of One Saratoga, Democrat County Supervisor and Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee member Sarah Burger, however, expanded the attack by warning them all to stay out of charter change altogether. In the meantime, Democrat Public Works Commissioner BK Keramati, who had at a previous meeting suggested charter change language to the Supervisors that gained the support of all his fellow Council members, flipped his position and embraced the new Democratic position laid out by Burger: sending all charter changes to referendum. The problem for Burger, Keramati, and the Democratic Committee is that New York state law is very specific about what can and cannot go to a referendum.
Sarah Burger’s Email
On May 31, 2026, Sarah Burger sent an email to the sitting Council members who were endorsed by One Saratoga, along with two members of One Saratoga’s leadership.
The email is poorly written and poorly researched. It apparently serves several purposes, including ingratiating herself with the leadership of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee. The criticism of her by members of the Committee for taking the One Saratoga line in the last election was unrelenting, and apparently, she is seeking to ingratiate herself with them again.
Last year, Mayor Safford established a charter commission with two missions: one was to present to the Council changes that could be adopted by the City Council, and secondly, to present further changes that would have to be approved by referendum in November as laid out in Sections 23 and 24 of the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law. The committee is bipartisan, and many members have served the city in various capacities. The commission is chaired by former City Attorney Vince DeLeonardis. They delivered their proposals, which could be adopted by the Council at the close of 2025, and the Council has been reviewing and discussing them over the past few months. In a previous post, I wrote about the phony issue Gordon Boyd created about proposed language regarding the city supervisors. Sarah Burger has now taken the Democrats’ attack to a higher level.
In her email, Ms. Berger bizarrely warns the recipients that it will be “political suicide” for them to involve themselves in the “formation of our governing document.” She goes on to claim that some of the proposals “require (her word) a public referendum.” Ms. Burger is an attorney. I wrote to Ms. Burger asking: given all the restrictions in New York regarding when referenda can be used, which provisions in the proposed charter changes she referenced in her email would allow for a referendum on it, let alone mandate one, and which statute she draws on to support her claim. She did not respond. I wrote her a follow-up request, which was similarly ignored.
Unlike California, Florida, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, and Oregon, New York State severely restricts the use of referendums, so it is unclear what she believes can go to a referendum and what the basis of her claim is
Regrettably, as noted earlier, I believe that the purpose of Ms. Burger’s email was political rather than a serious attempt to assist the city and One Saratoga. In order to ingratiate herself with the leadership of the city’s Democratic Committee, she is stirring the proverbial pot.
Ms. Berger is shrewd enough to know that the Commissioners she emailed will not abrogate their authority. Her help is disingenuous. Her main goal seems to be to provide as large a platform as possible for the Democratic Committee to muddy the waters as part of a strategy to discredit Mayor Safford’s commission. Her praise for the commission at the beginning of the last Council meeting, followed by her attempt to discredit their work, was striking in its disconnect.
Her email appears below.
BK Keramati Flips, Then He Flops, And Then He Flips Again
At the June 1 City Council pre-agenda meeting, he switched yet again, adopting Sarah Burger’s new narrative.
He seems, like Sarah, to be ignorant of state law on referenda and advocated putting all the individual charter proposal items, particularly the one dealing with Supervisors, on the Council’s ballots to let the public pick and choose, a practice that state law very narrowly limits. Clearly, the local Democratic Committee put the heat on Keramati to follow the new party line.
City Attorney Tony Izzo took the mic and tried to help Keramati understand the law. It is not clear that Keramati grasps what Tony is trying to explain to him.
Berger’s Letter
Sarah Burger <> Date: May 31, 2026, at 10:12:48 AM EDT To: Courtney DeLeonardis <>, Jessica Troisi <>, Tim Coll <>, John Safford <>, JoAnne Kiernan <>, Jeffrey Partridge <> Subject:Charter amendments
Good morning,
Ive given some thought to the proposed charter amendments that are before the council and overall while substantively I may agree with some of them I think the council voting on process for city elections, this supervisor issue, for example, is political suicide for One Saratoga.
There is simply no reason for you all to insert yourselves as elected officials in the formation of our governing document. This is an unforced error.
I firmly believe some of this requires public referendum and taking the voice of the voters away in amending our governing document for these type of substantive changes may down the road fly back on you.
I very strongly urge you to consider sending all proposed amendments to the voters. I want to see you all be successful in the things you are doing as council members. This does not need to be around your necks politically.
Just my two cents.
PS I think the best answer may be as my father always said “when you do not have to do something, do nothing.”
The Saratoga Springs City Council on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, will consider a resolution to deny payment of former Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub’s legal bills. Golub had city DPW employees work on a drain at a rental property Golub owned. The employees were operating on city time, using city equipment, and city materials. The criminal case against Golub was dismissed on a technicality with the charging document.
The resolution (below) is devastating. The key issue is that the city’s indemnity law is meant to protect elected officials from lawsuits growing out of something they did during the performance of their official duties. By his own statements, it is documented that Golub was operating as a private citizen with a plumbing problem on a property he owned when he had the city’s employees do the work.
Lew’s First Email To Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner BK Keramati
From: Lew Benton <l> Date: Wed, May 20, 2026 at 6:23 PM Subject: Congress Park Veterans Walk Condition To: BK Keramati <> CC: John Safford <>, JoAnne Kiernan <>, Tim Coll <>, Jessica Troisi <>, Matthew Veitch <>
Commissioner,
This year, as last and with Memorial Day around the corner, I ask PW to repoint the granite curbing flanking the Veterans Walk in Congress Park. Bricks should be power washed.
The attached photos taken today clearly show the Walk’s state of disrepair.
Last year I made the same suggestion to the then commissioner. Regrettably it was ignored. In the interim the Walk’s condition has further deteriorated.
Ultimately all bricks should be removed, thoroughly cleaned and relaid on an appropriate level base allowing good drainage. Engraved bricks no longer legible should be replaced.
I am confident that many who are named on the Walk, their families and others would gladly help underwrite the improvements.
Hundreds of the community members names and service dates are inscribed on the Walk. Some attest to the multi-generational service of Saratoga families and to those KIA.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Lew Benton
Lew’s Second Email
To:BK Keramati
From: Lew Benton
Commissioner,
Several days ago I sent via email photographs of the deteriorated condition of the Veterans Walk.
Perhaps you did not receive my note. So here again are some recent photos. I hope they will encourage PW to initiate the necessary improvements: i.e., granite curbing repointing, brick cleaning and leveling, replacement of worn bricks and those with illegible names.
I noted in my original email that the same request had been made last year prior to Memorial
Day but no action was taken. I trust you agree that the current condition is untenable and an affront to those whose service is memorialized there.
Thank you.
L. Benton
Lew’s Third Email
Commissioner (BK),
Thank you for your response to my recent emails detailing the deteriorating condition of the Veterans Walk in Congress Park.
I appreciate your comments regarding budget constraints. It’s a never-ending battle. And I am well aware that the current City budget, as those of the last three or four years, is likely to be in deficit. In fact, the Council should have been well aware that the 2026 budget advanced by Finance was seriously out of balance.
However, as I mentioned in my initial note, I see no reason why the repointing of the granite curbs lining the walk and removing, cleaning and relaying the bricks could not be done by force account or city labor. While labor intensive, I doubt that there would be any material costs.
I note that the 2026 Park and Casio Operating Budget includes $370.009 for labor, $15,000
for “Other Supplies,” $8,500 for “Landscaping” and $5,000 for “Professional Services.” Is there nothing to be found in these lines and other PW operating lines that could be transferred to the
Veterans Walk budget account?
And regrettably the Veterans Walk operating line has been zeroed out. That is all the more disturbing because the Walk’s current advanced stage of deterioration has been well known for some time.
In my nearly 40 years experience in local, county and state government and eight years on the City Council, I know even in the leanest of times there is $ to be found to address such needs. This is particularly true if the need is real, low cost, and the proposed improvement would remove, as in this case, a rather ugly blemish and a potential trip hazard. Of course not to finally act degrades the service of those whose names are inscribed in the Walk and mirrors the neglect of other Park amenities such as the Reservoir.
Finally, and as I mentioned in my initial email, I’m sure that private donations earmarked exclusively for Walk restoration would be made available if requested. And I am certain that some veterans and others would be willing to solicit same.
[JK: Mike Brandi, former chair and now vice-chair of the Saratoga Springs City Republican Committee, sent the press release below. After an investigation into a bizarre donation to Democrat/Working Families Party candidate Joe Seeman’s unsuccessful Assembly campaign, the New York State Board of Elections found that former Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran used a gross sexual name when he entered a false name as a donor to Seeman’s campaign. Moran claimed that the donation was the result of a pernicious hack, but the Board determined that Moran was the source of the improper donation.]
For immediate release. From the desk of Mike Brandi.
New York State Board of Elections finds Dillon Moran was the source of the funds of illicit “Jack Meehoff” donation; No Evidence of Hacking.
Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the New York State Board of Elections reveal that the failed Assembly campaign committee of Joe Seeman accepted an illegal campaign contribution submitted under a fictitious and lewd pseudonym tied to former Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran.
In its 27-day post-election filing, the Seeman campaign reported receiving a $100 contribution on October 31, 2024, from a contributor identified as “Jack Meehoff,” listing an address of 177 Lake Avenue and an employer of “City of Saratoga Springs.”
That address belongs to Dillon Moran.
Campaign finance records further show that Moran had previously donated $200 to the Seeman campaign under his real name using the same address.
Shortly thereafter, the New York State Board of Elections Enforcement Counsel contacted the Seeman campaign and advised that it had reported a contribution under a fictitious name. Enforcement Counsel instructed the campaign that it was required to disgorge the contribution by donating the funds either to the State or to a legitimate charitable organization.
On January 10, the Seeman campaign’s treasurer informed the Board of Elections that she had “done some sleuthing” and determined that the “Jack Meehoff” contribution had in fact come from Dillon Moran, who allegedly claimed that he had been “hacked.” The treasurer then asked whether the campaign could simply amend the filing to replace “Meehoff” with Moran and retain the contribution.
In response to the hacking allegation, Enforcement Counsel requested additional information in order to properly assess the matter.
Following an investigation, the Public Campaign Finance Board determined that the illicit contribution did in fact originate from Dillon Moran and that the contribution was submitted from a network associated with other contributions Moran made to political committees. The Board found no evidence that either Moran or the Seeman campaign had been victims of hacking.
New York Election Law prohibits political committees from accepting contributions made in any name other than the true name of the contributor.
The Board of Elections ordered the Seeman campaign to disgorge the $100 contribution within 30 days or face a $350 civil penalty. In the alternative, the campaign could have provided an affidavit from Moran admitting that he was the true source of the contribution. No such affidavit was ever provided.
On January 9, 2026, the Seeman campaign ultimately disgorged the unlawful contribution by donating $100 to charity.
The facts are clear: Dillon Moran made an official political contribution using a lewd pseudonym. Not only was this unlawful, but it was wildly inappropriate and unbecoming of a public official.
A healthy democracy requires elections conducted transparently and in accordance with the law. Moran’s cavalier treatment of campaign finance requirements demonstrates precisely why Saratoga Springs voters made the right decision in rejecting him in 2025.
When confronted, Moran resorted to the now-familiar “I was hacked” excuse — an explanation that collapsed under scrutiny after investigators concluded there was no evidence of hacking and determined that Moran himself was the source of the illegal contribution.
Gordon Boyd, along with his colleagues at the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, has launched a disinformation campaign to undermine the credibility of the Charter Commission appointed by Saratoga Springs Mayor John Safford. They are attempting to spread the falsehood that the Charter Commission seeks to weaken the city’s representation in Saratoga County government by changing the charter language stating that the city has two Supervisors.
Briefly, Saratoga County’s government, not the city, has the authority to determine how many representatives each municipality within its jurisdiction is allowed. The county establishes the number of representatives, called Supervisors, each town/city is allotted based on its population size. Every municipality has at least one representative. Clifton Park and Saratoga Springs, due to their larger populations, currently have two.
If, in the future, the population growth in the county and the city were to increase sufficiently, the county might decide that the city might merit a third representative. Raising or lowering the number of Supervisors representing Saratoga Springs or any of the other municipalities in the county is solely the prerogative of the County. The wording in our charter will have no effect on that decision.
I don’t know how to make it any clearer, and this has been explained to Mr. Boyd and his colleagues repeatedly. THE CITY HAS NO AUTHORITY AS TO HOW IT IS REPRESENTED IN COUNTY GOVERNMENT. That is the prerogative of the county government.
There was no controversy among the Charter Review Commission members in their discussions about changing the language in the existing charter clause referring to two representatives to the county. The current charter, under Title 2, states that the city has two supervisors. The recommended new language would read that the City has “One or more Supervisors, as may be established by County Law,” a simple statement of fact.
They observed that if the county legislature were to grant Saratoga either more or fewer representatives, the current charter language would be invalid. The proposed language merely allows for flexibility should the county make any changes in the future.
To suggest that the Charter Commission wants to reduce the number of representatives to the county is simply false.
Some History
Mayor John Safford established a bipartisan charter review commission chaired by Vince DeLeonardis. The group, which includes several members who have previously served in city and county government, has been meeting for about a year. DeLeonardis previously served as the Saratoga Springs City Attorney and chaired an earlier charter commission established under former Mayor Meg Kelly.
The current charter, under Title 2, states that the city has two Supervisors. The recommended new language would read that the City has “One or more Supervisors, as may be established by County Law.”
On February 24, 2026, Gordon Boyd, along with several others, spoke at the Charter Review meeting. They opposed the language modifying the charter as it pertains to “supervisors.”
This is an extract from the February 24 meeting minutes, in which Boyd and his posse bizarrely claim that the Commission is proposing to reduce the city’s representation in county government.
At this meeting, DeLeonardis and other Commission members (including Matt Veitch, who served as one of Saratoga’s County Supervisors for 18 years) attempted to explain that the proposed change in language would not reduce the number of Supervisors allotted to the city and to discuss the reasoning behind the proposed changes. (I have included more extensive remarks made by DeLeonardis at a different meeting at the end of this blog.) Unfortunately, it appeared that for whatever reason, the explanation from Commission members had little effect on Boyd and his followers. On March 3, Boyd and someone named Robin Baxter appeared at the City Council meeting and repeated the same disinformation during the public comment period.
On May 5, 2026, the past chair of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, Otis Maxwell, used the City Council public comment period to again offer the same made-up concerns. Here is Maxwell speaking and DeLeonardis’s response that night.
Stunning Cynicism
Boyd and his compatriots should be uncomfortable about criticizing the language proposed to handle the Supervisor issue. In February,2017, an earlier Charter Review Commission of which Boyd was a member, not only acknowledged the county’s authority to determine how municipalities will be represented, but also recommended removing any language about Supervisors from the city’s charter.
Vince DeLeonardis’ Full Analysis
At the March 16, 2026, pre-agenda meeting of the City Council, DeLeonardis gave a thorough analysis of the Supervisor controversy.
The city of Saratoga Springs Board of Ethics has ruled that former Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner Hank Kuczynski improperly directed a city employee to perform political work on his behalf while she was being paid by the city.
The decision came in response to a complaint I made to the Board in April of 2025. That was almost a full year ago. The complaint was addressed only after city planner Susan Barden, who chaired the board, resigned and a new chair, Sara Nucera, was appointed. Why the committee under Barden delayed action for so long is unknown, as the Ethics Board’s deliberations are carried out in executive session.
Readers will remember that in the fall of 2024,Kuczynski failed to submit the required paperwork on time to secure the Democratic line for the Commissioner of Public Works position on the ballot in a special election. He subsequently ran a write-in campaign. Kuczynski directed his administrative assistant to assist him in scrutinizing the ballots as they were counted at the Board of Elections in Ballston Spa for two days. His assistant submitted time cards for this period to the city for payment, and Kuczynski signed the cards authorizing her payment.
I am glad to have finally received a decision, and I appreciate the ethics board’s work in confirming my complaint. Using city resources for campaigning is clearly improper. I hope this will discourage such behavior in the future. Kuczynski clearly violated the trust of the people of our city.
[A Press Release From The Saratoga Springs Republican Committee]
Immediate Release:
SSGOP Chairman Mike Brandi announces that he is stepping down in advance of move to the Town of Wilton. Local Attorney and political veteran Gerard Parisi to assume role of Chairman with unanimous support of Republican Committee.
Chairman Brandi: “As I prepare to move to the Town of Wilton later this year, I have submitted my resignation as Chairman of the Saratoga Springs Republican Committee, effective March 13. I will serve as Vice Chair for the time being to ensure a smooth transition.
Serving as Chairman has been an honor and a privilege. Together, we strengthened the committee, supported capable candidates, and worked to ensure that voters had principled, responsible choices. Our work promoted transparency, accountability, and professionalism—principles that I hope will continue to guide the committee for years to come. We also went on offense, taking direct action to protect the taxpayers and ensure that our city functioned with integrity and according to the law.
Although I am stepping down from this position, I am not stepping away from the work. I will continue to stay engaged in the issues facing Saratoga Springs and will never hesitate to speak out and take action when transparency, accountability, and responsible government are lacking.
Politics is not for the faint of heart. It is the work of those willing to step into the arena, take risks, and stand for what they believe in, even in the face of criticism and against immense odds. I am grateful to have stood in that arena alongside so many dedicated volunteers, committee members, and candidates.
I leave knowing that the credit belongs to those who show up, who strive, and who fight for their community, as Teddy Roosevelt described them – “those who dare greatly” and take action rather than simply watch from the sidelines.”
Under Brandi’s tenure as Chairman, the SSGOP committee enjoyed significant electoral success despite a substantial enrollment disadvantage. Candidates endorsed by City Republicans in contested elections won six of nine city races: Safford ’23 (win), Coll ’23 (win), Scirocco (loss – special election), Marshall (win – special election), Troisi ’25 (win), Kiernan ’25 (win), Safford ’25 (win), Marshall ’25 (loss), and Ehinger ’25 (loss).
Beyond the ballot box, Brandi also delivered victories in the courtroom, fighting for government transparency and against the misuse of taxpayer funds. His legal efforts saved taxpayers more than $100,000 that would otherwise have been spent unlawfully but for his intervention. Brandi also took efforts in the Courtroom to protect local elections, compelling the County Board of Elections to hold a special election when Democrats on the City Council attempted to cancel it after failing to nominate a candidate.
Brandi was also instrumental in uncovering misconduct by former Commissioner Dillon Moran, ultimately leading to Moran’s conviction for deliberately concealing public records on personal devices and issuing false certifications in violation of New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). The case marked a historic conviction under the state’s transparency laws.
In recognition of his work advancing open government, Brandi was honored by the New York State Coalition for Open Government with inclusion on its 2025 “Nice List.”
Local attorney and political veteran Gerard Parisi will assume the role of Chairman with the unanimous support of the Republican Committee. Brandi will remain on as Vice Chair to support Parisi in the transition. The committee is fully behind incoming chairman Parisi and looks forward to continued victories for the people of Saratoga Springs under his stewardship.
As a personal note from Mike Brandi to the recipients of this message, it has been a pleasure to work with our local press over the last few years. Despite the headwinds facing local media, we are blessed in this area to have a number of news sources who bring attention to issues in local government which might otherwise go unnoticed. Thank you, and please do not hesitate to reach out to me at any time.
