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Tom McTygue Has Passed.

My wife Jane Weihe and I knew Tom McTygue for more than fifty years and in spite of our differences over the years were always quite fond of him and admired and respected his many accomplishments that contributed so much to Saratoga Springs.

In the mid 1980s, Jane and Tom ran competing slates for the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee’s seats. Jane’s slate prevailed.

Their campaigns were prompted by differences over a proposed development at Exit 14. Tom supported it, and Jane opposed it.

Jane and Tom went on to run together on the Democratic slate in the city elections the following year. Tom’s response to the committee defeat was emblematic of the man and stands in sharp contrast to the toxic divisive world of politics on today’s Council.

“Our differences were over issues and never personal ,” Jane observes. “In contrast to the current Democratic Committee, there was room for our disagreements over the years. As long as I was direct with Tom about our differences, I felt there was never any acrimony.”

Tom was a doer who dedicated his life to improving the city through the many projects that are the foundation of Saratoga’s prosperity today. One of his crowning achievements was the restoration of the Canfield Casino. This was an enormously difficult and challenging project, but Tom loved the challenge. He immersed himself in the historical details and worked with the craftsmen who created today’s gem.

This was just one of many other projects, which included everything from organizing a team of young people who used an old fire truck called “Flower Power” in the summer to move throughout the city to water and maintain the many flower beds that McTygue added to the city landscape, to the more technical problems of resolving the city’s many drainage issues.

Tom did not have time for prolonged feuds because he always needed his opponents’ support for the next enterprise to improve the city that he loved.

Jane and I send our deepest condolences to his wife, Sandy, and family.

Jane and I will miss him.

Filling DPW Vacancy Part 2: A Special Election in 2024? Not So Fast: Moran and Sanghvi Operate In Alternative Universe

I expect that the readers of this blog are as tired as I am of the chronicles documenting Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran and Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi’s misrepresentations, badgering, and false statements.

This most recent Saratoga Springs City Council meeting on September 17, 2024, was particularly disturbing. Moran and Sanghvi simply used this meeting, as they have done regularly, to spread false information and berate and try to humiliate Mayor John Safford. The meeting included patently untrue statements by them, but because the Mayor’s and Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll’s responses are quietly civil, these two men are drowned out by Moran and Sanghvi.

Once again, the issue was filling the vacancy created when Jason Golub resigned his position as Commissioner of Public Safety. As described in the previous post, both Sanghvi and Moran had submitted badly flawed resolutions at the September 3 Council meeting that did not pass, calling for a special election in 2024. Moran had placed his defeated motion on the agenda (twice!) for the September 17 meeting.

Given the document from the New York State Board of Elections that was in the hands of all the Council members, why did Moran bother to reintroduce his resolution that had failed twice at the previous meeting, and why did the contentious discussion of a special election consume so much of the Council’s time and energy?

The State Board of Elections Letter

The Council had asked City Attorney Tony Izzo to seek an opinion from the New York State Board of Elections regarding the viability of holding a special election to fill Golub’s vacancy . The following was the Board’s response, which indicates, as I read it, that the special election pushed for by Moran and Sanghvi for this year cannot take place. The letter states, “Under state law, a vacancy that occurs after that date (August 5, 2024) would be on the ballot to fill the vacancy in November of 2025.” In spite of pressure from the city Democratic Committee, Golub left his position after this date.

Here is the letter:

Commissioner Coll and Mayor John Safford have repeatedly stated that they were in full support of holding a special election to fill this vacancy, but they wanted to make sure that such an election would be legal. Sanghvi and Moran have repeatedly characterized their position incorrectly as being opposed to holding an election to fill Golub’s vacancy.

This letter was circulated to all the Council members and their deputies. Despite Commissioner Coll’s interjection of its existence during the Council’s deliberations, neither Moran nor Sanghvi acknowledged it, nor did the press when it covered this meeting.

The letter does decline to address anything in the city’s charter related to elections and suggests that such questions should be directed to the New York State Attorney General’s Office.

So the language in the letter from the New York State Board of Elections can be read two ways.

Their declaration that there can be no special election until 2025 can be seen as unequivocal on the one hand. On the other hand, the letter declined to address the language in the local charter. This blogger considers it a stretch to believe that the letter allowed for the possibility that the language of the city’s charter superseded state law. Still, an argument can be made to that effect.

In an earlier post, I explored this issue of the contradictory language regarding special elections in the city charter.

What appears crystal clear to this blogger is that the legality of holding a special election is, at a minimum, unclear. Coll and Safford were more than reasonable in asking our city’s attorneys to rigorously resolve the outstanding legal issues before proceeding.

A Resolution on a Special Election Passes

In the end the resolution put forward originally by Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi and then modified by Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran at the September 3 Council meeting was passed unanimously, but only after a significant friendly amendment offered by Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll was accepted requiring an opinion from the City Attorney that the election being requested by Moran was lawful.

Moran and the media focused on the original part of the resolution, proclaiming that an election to fill Golub’s seat before the end of the year would now be held. A careful look at the amendment to the resolution, coupled with the document from the New York State Board of Elections presented at the meeting, indicates that the legality of holding a special election in 2024 is, at a minimum, unclear.

Nevertheless, when the amended resolution passed unanimously, Moran proclaimed, “We’re having an election, people.”

Every major media outlet covering the meeting had headlines trumpeting Moran’s statement that with the adoption of this resolution, a special election will be held this year. More rigorous reporters would have taken note of the significance of Coll’s amendment.

It should be noted that reporters are not the authors of the headlines for their stories. However, it is reasonable to argue that the poverty of their reporting prompted these headlines.

Headlines In Local Media

Saratogian Newspaper

‘We’re having an election people’:Saratoga Springs City Council can start process on filling empty Public Works Commissioner seat’

Daily Gazette

Saratoga Springs to hold special DPW commissioner election by end of year

Times Union

Special election for council seat called in Saratoga Springs

WAMC

Saratoga Springs City Council begins moving to fill DPW vacancy

Saratoga Today

Musical Chairs: City Moves to Fill Vacant Council Seat 

The Position of Mayor Safford and Commissioner Coll

Coll and Safford could have killed the resolution by simply voting no. This blogger views their response as both thoughtful and generous. They agreed to Moran and Sanghvi’s resolution as long as it included language requiring that the city’s attorneys determine the legality of the special election.

The part of the resolution directing the request for a special election to the board of elections will be meaningless if it is determined that the special election would be illegal.

I understood why Safford and Coll agreed to the compromise. They simply wanted to resolve the legality issue and end the toxic and pointless arguments.

It was especially ungracious that the last word in the discussion was Moran announcing triumphantly, “People, we will have an election.” Regrettably, he successfully got an uncritical press to publish headlines as though the issue were resolved. For thoughtful people, that “victory” is very much in doubt.

Filling DPW Vacancy: Pointless Conflict and Disinformation–Part 1

Filling The DPW Vacancy-Sanghvi and Moran have a plan but is it legal?

At the Saratoga Springs City Council meeting on September 3, 2024, Finance Commissioners Minita Sanghvi and Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran both tried to pass resolutions setting a date for a special election to fill the Commissioner of Public Works vacancy created when Jason Golub vacated the position. Notwithstanding their claims that their resolutions were based on alleged research and that they were following the city charter, both Sanghvi’s resolution and the modified one presented later by Moran were seriously flawed. Both resolutions failed. The issue was raised again at the September 17 meeting. More on that in the next post. For now-here is Round 1.

Sanghvi’s Resolution

Here is the resolution Commissioner Sanghvi put on her agenda for the September 3 City Council meeting:

A casual reading reveals the first problem with Commissioner Sanghvi’s resolution. It requests a special election, but there is no indication of who this request is being directed to. It’s kind of like “to whom it may concern.” As it turns out, there was confusion between Sanghvi and Moran as who this resolution was supposed to go to.

During the two discussions (more on that later), Moran and Sanghvi offered several explanations as to whom their request for an election would be directed. At one point, it was to the Saratoga County Board of Elections (Sanghvi), and at another, it was to the Governor (Moran), sometimes it was the Attorney General, sometimes it was the New York State Board of Elections.

Sanghvi’s resolution also set the date for the special election to coincide with the upcoming November 5 general election. She argued that doing so would save money and that, as it was a national election, it would draw the most voters.

While her arguments were valid, she seemed to have conveniently forgotten or chose just to ignore that the November 5 option had been off the table for some time. Jason Golub would have had to leave office by August 5 to allow for the 90-day window required to schedule a special election on November 5. I am told the city Democrats put considerable pressure on Golub to leave office by that date but were unsuccessful. Sanghvi had to be aware of all this.

Mayor John Safford and Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll explained that to adopt a resolution like this that sets a specific date for a special election, the city attorneys would first need to properly research the law and provide the Council with a clarifying memorandum to ensure that they would be requesting an election that was indeed legally allowable.

Sanghvi claimed that David Harper, the City Attorney, had approved her resolution and that sending this resolution to the Saratoga County Board of Elections would somehow initiate the election. Sanghvi asserted that it was the only way to determine what procedure should be followed. Why someone couldn’t just pick up the phone and ask this question without passing a resolution requesting an election be held on a particular date was never explained by Sanghvi.

Harper was called to the microphone and told the Council members that he had simply approved the resolution’s format, not its content. He told the Council he had no expertise in election law to determine whether the resolution was consistent with city and state law. He observed that further research should be initiated.

A Pointless And Acrimonious Deliberation

It was crystal clear that neither Coll nor Safford would support a resolution adopting a date for a special election without further clarification as to the legality of the request. This did not restrain Moran and Sanghvi from offering contradictory arguments or scurrilously and falsely implying and, at times, stating outright that Coll and Safford opposed holding any election to fill the vacancy.

Commissioner Coll responded to Sanghvi by noting that he had contacted the Saratoga County Board of Elections and was told that any date selected for a special election would, at a minimum, have to allow at least a ninety-day window so that members of the armed forces could receive ballots and return them. Coll noted that an election on November 5 would not allow for this, and so while he supported having an election, this date was a non-starter for him, and he could not vote for her resolution.

Sanghvi had repeatedly justified her resolution by stating that the city charter required a special election be held to fill a vacancy when it occurs on the Council.

While section 2.4 of the charter does call for a special election to fill a vacancy under certain circumstances, Coll noted to Sanghvi that her citations from the city charter did not include Section 12.2, which requires the city to adhere to state election law. Coll argued that while he supported having a special election, it was precipitous to schedule one before the city’s attorneys could properly research state election law and advise the Council on what the legal options were.

What Does the City Charter Say About Special Elections?

The charter has conflicting sections on elections. At one point, it authorizes the Council to set a date and to run special elections to fill vacancies. In another section, it says that state election law establishes the terms the city must adhere to.

City Attorney Izzo explained to the Council that the conflict arose due to the city’s history. In 1915, the city held its own elections, including the design of ballots and the timing of all elections.

Subsequently, the New York State legislature established the terms and conditions of elections. Commissioner Sanghvi chose to focus on the language from the old charter and ignored the revision related to state election law.

City attorney Tony Izzo had informed the council that state law supersedes the section of the law continually referenced by Sanghvi and Moran, but the two simply ignored his admonishment.

This is the key section from the charter she did not cite. It reads:

12.2Primaries and municipal elections.

Provisions of the Election Law of the State of New York shall apply to all municipal elections and special elections of the City of Saratoga Springs and shall guide in all matters not provided in the Charter.

A primary election shall be held in accordance with Election Law of the State of New York in each odd-numbered year during the hours 12:00 noon until 9:00 p.m.

City Charter

The general municipal election shall be held on Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in each odd-numbered year, in accordance with Election Law of the State of New York.

Commissioner Coll Promotes Having The City Attorneys Research The Laws Before Any Action

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mJ1rgnZbYPs%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Sanghvi And Moran Ignore Coll And Insist On A Vote (It Fails)

Sanghvi and Moran insisted that the Council adopt her resolution. As the discussion devolves, it becomes clear that the resolution has been crafted without the required research.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lphuc5AF87Q%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Sanghvi Agrees To Have The City Attorneys Research The Law And Advise The Council

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LvTQjMGM5Yo%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Moran Insists His Colleagues Pass A Revised Resolution

Moran has somehow appropriated the authority to present the Department of Public Works agenda to the Council in the absence of a DPW Commissioner.

Despite Sanghvi’s resolution’s failure, he tweaked it, changed the date from November 5 to December 31 (New Year’s Eve), and moved to add this new version to the DPW agenda.

This was an outrageous abuse of the dubious role he had adopted in presenting the DPW business, and I am sorry the mayor did not rule him out of order.

Moran attacked Coll and Safford and insisted on a vote. Despite Sanghvi’s earlier agreement to accept having the City Attorneys research the issue, she seconded Moran’s motion.

His resolution was also defeated, and Sanghvi reverted back to supporting the City Attorneys’ research on the issue.

Moran Never Gives Up

It is worth noting that the agenda for the next Council meeting on September 16 included the exact same resolution by Moran for setting a date for a special election by December 31 twice. It appeared as part of his Accounts Department agenda and part of the DPW agenda. The next blog will explore what happened with his resolution.

Good Government Process

This dispute is the most recent unpleasant occurrence at the Council table arising from Dillon Moran’s repeated introduction of resolutions he knows will not pass.

There is a history of how governments effectively function.

An elected official who wants to pass legislation first engages his/her colleagues in private discussions, seeking their support. This is not backroom dealing, as the body must adopt legislation in a public process. If the official cannot gather a majority to support a resolution, the general course of events is that they accept that it cannot be passed and desist from pursuing it.

There are four good reasons for this.

  • If a member has questions or reservations, the proponent can respond directly to the concerns or agree to find answers to the questions raised.
  • If the legislation is doomed, it avoids unnecessary conflict at the table.
  • If it is doomed, it avoids wasting the time of his/her colleagues by not unnecessarily prolonging their meeting.
  • It has the courtesy of not prompting citizens who may oppose or support the legislation from wasting their time attending the meeting and voicing their concerns.

Of course, there are legitimate exceptions. A legislator may believe raising a doomed resolution will help inform the public. This should, however, be the exception. To chronically submit doomed legislation will, as we have observed over the last two and a half years, contribute to a toxic atmosphere that places performance over substance.

In Moran’s case, the purpose of many of his resolutions is not that they are passed but that they serve as foils for conflict and drama at the Council table.

Moran To Stop Contracts For City

Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran has been unsuccessfully trying for months to get the city to allow him to have his own attorney rather than rely on the city’s attorney. At the September 16, 2024, pre-agenda meeting, he insisted that he had the right to have his own attorney. When Mayor Safford indicated he could not support this, Moran announced that he and his staff would stop processing contracts for a month.

It is hard to believe that he will follow through on this threat, which would violate his oath of office as the Commissioner of Accounts.

The following video documents his threat.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5zglvOcJ1sg%3Ffeature%3Doembed

The Blogger Is In Chicago


I am in Chicago having participated in the march on Monday opposing my country’s funding of the genocide in Gaza.

I am a Jew and I grew up in a home where when my parents said never again they were not talking about only Jews but the slaughter of innocents of any nationality or race.

I know my gesture of marching is a small one but the images of Palestinians carrying maimed children is simply more than I can bear.

This war will not only devastate the people of the West Bank and Gaza but in the end will threaten the long term future of Israel.

Dillon Moran’s Gratuitous Attack On Tim Coll

The Times Union has run a story on the city hiring an attorney to represent it in dealing with the New York State Attorney General’s demands on Saratoga Springs following her office’s investigation and report on the city’s conflicts with the local Black Lives Matter group.

After rehashing the legal expenses the city has been enduring, reporter Wendy Liberatore notes that the Council is united on the need to hire outside counsel to respond to the AG. She then provides Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran a platform to attack fellow Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll.

Moran said he is skeptical about Coll’s sincerity to collaborate. He believes Coll and the police will fight the attorney general on proposed reforms such as training police on de-escalation, bias and community policing.

Times Union August 23, 2024

Moran goes on to make further accusations:

“We are cognizant of the fact we do not have enough legal talent nor appropriate legal talent to engage in the negotiation with the attorney general,” Moran said. “That we all agree on. … The problem is that (Coll) wants to fight the attorney general … His (requests for quotes) is written like somebody who doesn’t want to collaborate with the attorney general, but like somebody who wants to argue over every word in the (proposed attorney general) document [JK:Emphasis added]. … This could harm the city for years going forward.”

Times Union August 23, 2024

Unfortunately for Moran, it was not Coll who drafted the “request for quotes,” but the City Attorney, and Coll has invited all members of the City Council to participate in the interviews of the attorneys who respond to the RFQ.

Moran (and Ms. Liberatore) apparently did not bother to check the facts on this or his other allegations. The city police force, for instance, is already routinely being trained in “de-escalation, bias, and community policing,” so there will be no fight over those reforms as they have already been implemented.

Commissioner Moran Resurrects His Very Bad Idea to Hire More Lawyers

Back in April, Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran published a Request for Proposals that would fund attorneys for his Accounts Department along with the Finance Department, and the Department of Public Works. I described his power move in some detail that month.

I had assumed he had dropped the idea but recently he received responses from a number of law firms. He has selected the firm Howard Beach. The award of a contract was put on his agenda for the August 20, 2024, meeting. His proposal was met with intense questioning from Mayor Safford at this morning’s (August 19,2024) pre-agenda meeting. Safford was concerned that Dillon’s proposal lacked any specific guidelines as to when and how the Howard Beach firm would be used by the three departments. Moran bizarrely argued that the guidelines could be figured out after the firm was hired. In the end it was clear that Moran did not have the votes to accept this contract and withdrew that item from his agenda.

If Moran is eventually successful, the toxic environment at Council meetings would then include dueling lawyers at who knows what cost to the city.

It is worth noting that at a Council meeting on October 18, 2022, Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi sided with then Mayor Ron Kim in opposing a similar proposal by Moran to have the city fund an attorney for him. Here is the record of that discussion:

At the time Kim and Moran were feuding and Sanghvi was Kim’s ally. Sanghvi has been silent on Moran’s latest foray and was not at this morning’s Pre-Agenda meeting

Comments

I sent requests to the three candidates that I am currently aware of seeking to fill the DPW Commissioner vacancy. I asked them to review Moran’s proposal and offer their thoughts. Sara Burger and Michael Ladd did not respond. The following is the response from Chuck Marshall:

“Commissioner Moran’s pattern of alleged mistreatment of staff, increasing litigation, and propensity for shifting responsibilities away from himself, has proven problematic for the city.  During this period of mounting legal bills – already burdening taxpayers – it doesn’t seem fiscally responsible to contract for separate attorneys for Accounts, Finance, and Public Works.”

Moran’s Empire

With the resignation of Jason Golub, Moran has taken it on himself to represent DPW at the Council table thus expanding his presence.

Filling The Impending Vacancy For DPW Commissioner – Another Mess

In a front-page story in the August 6, 2024, edition of the Daily Gazette, Sara Burger announced her candidacy to replace Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub, who is leaving this position to take a job with the state. On the very same day, she apparently emailed the executive committee of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, withdrawing from the race. Then, apparently, she reversed her decision again, reaffirming her intention to campaign to replace Golub.

According to a story in the August 7, 2024, edition of the Times Union, the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee had selected Burger over Gordon Boyd, who also sought the position.

I texted Burger on August 7, 2024, and asked for clarification.

Ms. Burger never replied.

I then emailed Otis Maxwell, the chair of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, asking if I could have a copy of her email. He never replied.

It is reasonable to assume that Ms. Burger mysteriously withdrew from the race and then re-entered it.

I think it is reasonable for Ms. Burger to directly address the incident and, assuming she did withdraw and re-engage, explain her decisions.

The Word Partisan Doesn’t Work

Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran has asserted that because the number of registered Democrats is greater than the number of Republicans in the city, that the person selected by the Democratic Committee should be Golub’s replacement.

It is important to understand that for the group currently in control of the Democratic Committee, being a Democrat is not enough. As we saw in the last election cycle when the Committee refused to let three Democrats interested in running for City Council even address the full Committee, any candidate they will even consider, let alone endorse for this current vacancy, must be loyal to the current faction in control of the committee and a fan of Moran and Finance Commissioner Sanghvi.

In contrast, outgoing Commissioner Golub told the Times Union:

‘…his replacement should not be a partisan pick, but one who would work well with the staff. He also told the mayor he would be happy to chair the committee [a committee that would vet and recommend a candidate].”

Times Union August 7, 2024

The Democratic Committee quickly announced on Facebook that they “would like to assist in identifying candidates for the DPW position” and that anyone interested in the position should contact them. When Otis Maxwell, the Democratic chair, however, was contacted by a registered Republican who was and still is interested in the position and has qualifications for the job and a history of working well with city officials and residents of all political persuasions, he was told that the Democratic Committee was only interviewing Democrats.

Ironically, Otis Maxwell, the Democratic chair, had told the Daily Gazette

“we are looking for the strongest candidate, and it would be great if we found somebody who was somewhat apolitical and just had great qualifications and wanted the job and that might help the other side approve them.”

-Daily Gazette July 26,2024

The committee then went ahead and endorsed Sarah Burger, a former Democratic chair who is highly partisan and who has no qualifications. So much for looking for the strongest candidate who might help the “other side” approve them. Note also that Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll is a registered Democrat but has automatically been delegated to be on the “other side.”

In ironic contrast to the hyper-tribalism of the Democrats who view being a Republican as being the personification of evil, it is the local Republicans who have demonstrated tolerance and the willingness to look beyond party registration in considering who to support to fill Golub’s position. Readers will recall that they endorsed Tim Coll, a registered Democrat who successfully ran for Public Safety Commissioner in the last election.

Mike Brandi, chair of the Saratoga Springs Republican Party, told the Times Union that he is:

“available to speak with anyone interested in the position to discuss my committee’s priorities for the Department of Public Works. … While the local Democratic Party has refused to interview independents and Republicans for their recommendation to fill the position, our priority is what is best for the city.” 

Times Union August 7, 2024

Probable Grid Lock

There is currently controversy and confusion over when an election to fill Golub’s position can take place. Moran claims that he will make it happen on October 29, 2024. Without going too far into the weeds, this is highly unlikely. It remains unclear when a special election will be held.

In the meantime, the only way to fill the position, pending an election, would be for a majority of the Council to vote for a candidate to serve as Commissioner until a special election can be held. This would require three votes, and with Golub gone and the two Democrats supported by the Committee, Moran and Sanghvi, committed to Sarah Burger, this seems unlikely.

A number of people have expressed interest in potentially filling Golub’s position. They are either independents or Republicans with little history in the scrum of city politics. Given the public stance of the city Democratic committee, though, it is highly unlikely that Moran and Sanghvi would consider any of these candidates and, therefore, that a majority can be found.

Only time will tell.

Moran and Golub Play Fast And Loose With Senior Center Lease

There is a tentative plan for RISE Housing and Support Services to lease the building owned by the city of Saratoga Springs at 5 Williams Street that was used for many years as the city’s Senior Center. RISE hopes to locate its administrative offices there while Bonacio Construction renovates RISE’s office facility at 127 Union Street. Following the renovation, which is estimated to take six months to a year, RISE will relinquish the former Senior Center building and move back to their previous location.

Former Mayor Ron Kim’s history of trying to make the Senior Center into a twenty-four/seven, low-barrier homeless shelter has complicated the process for RISE. Given the Center’s proximity to the Saratoga Central Catholic School, Kim’s plan produced visceral opposition from parents whose children attended the school. This history has bred an atmosphere of fear and suspicion towards the current proposal for RISE to now use the facility.

The plan is now for the City Council to vote on a lease of the Senior Center at their August 6, 2024, meeting.

Regrettably, the agenda published on Friday, August 2, did not include an item authorizing the lease, nor was there a copy of what was being proposed.

How To Create A Toxic Environment

Normally the Commissioner of Public Works would be responsible for bringing a lease like this to the table as this office is responsible for the city’s buildings and facilities. For whatever reason, Jason Golub, the current Public Works Commissioner, has declined to play this role, although he has told people that he plans to vote to approve the lease.

Instead Golub has handed off this responsibility to Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran. While we are told that Moran plans to put a proposed lease up for a Council vote Tuesday (August 6, 2024) this item does not appear on his agenda nor has any document been posted anywhere on the city website for public review.

Unconfirmed rumors of what will be in this proposed lease abound.

There are reports that at least three versions of the lease are circulating.

Moran has told people that the reason that the lease was not on the published agenda was that it needed further work.

As both Moran and Golub refuse to respond to my emails, I have been unable to find out why Golub has refused to sponsor the resolution or what changes Moran thinks are required.

One source claims that Moran has said that there will not be time to make the changes before the pre-agenda meeting on Monday morning, August 5. This means that neither the Council members nor the public will have seen the proposal prior to Moran asking the Council to take action on Tuesday night.

Golub’s Troubling Behavior

Discussions about this plan began last fall so there has been plenty of time to craft a lease and to properly inform the public of its contents and meet with citizens to hear their concerns. That responsibility rested clearly on Golub’s shoulders as DPW Commissioner. Why he has abrogated that responsibility and allowed Moran to take over is unknown.

The Need For A Special Meeting

I have repeatedly written about the Faction’s (Moran/Sanghvi/Golub) indifference to the need to inform the public in a timely way about actions the Council plans to take. Rather than publish proposed resolutions in the agenda, which is posted on Friday nights, they regularly prefer to wait until the Tuesday nights of Council meetings to share what they plan to do.

It is no wonder that the Catholic school community is skeptical about the lease’s terms.

The only solution is to table Moran’s proposal, hold a special Council meeting to consider it and publish the proposal prior to that meeting at a time that will ensure the community has time to consider it and address the Council with their concerns.