A push to propose an alternative to the near decade-old commission form of city government had residents divided at Aug. 8 charter review commission meeting.
The nine-member commission is charged with presenting voters a proposed alternative form of government this November. Some residents said the commissioner system is outdated and inefficient, while others said they’d be averse to changing a system that has seemingly served the city well; more so than cities with differently structured governments.
The commission is the second of its type since 2000, when the first commission made minor changes to the city charter. Formed only one month ago, it must complete a review of the current form of government and research alternatives for public review by Sept. 7.
The aggressive timeline is a concern to many residents.
You are proposing to change our whole government in, give or take, six weeks, resident Cliff Ammon told the commission. `I cannot support this process.`
Other residents questioned the haste to get it on this November’s ballot.
The drive for change has been present for years, said commission chairwoman Beth Hershenhart, adding the 2000 commission laid much of the groundwork for this group’s task.
In a later interview, Mayor Valerie Keehn echoed Hershenhart’s statement. `It’s not a new issue in the city. It’s something that people have been talking about for quite some time.`
Keehn said the commission will not be hampered by the timeline because it has a narrow focus and will listen to the community. After a proposed new structure is created, the commission will have two months to educate residents as to how the current system works and listen to public input on the reform process.
If voters decide on restructuring the government, the city will have all of 2007 as a transition period, Keehn said. `So it’s not going to be like on Nov. 7, 2006, we’ll have a new government.`
While Keehn said she did not front-load the commission with any one particular structure in mind, she is looking for a separation of administrative and legislative duties that the current form of government does not allow. Under the current system, elected officials also oversee their respective departments, such as finance, public safety and public works. The proposed model calls for a separate legislative body that would no longer be responsible for running day-to-day operations of various departments.
`The commissioners form is inefficient because each department operates independently,` resident Shawn Thompson said.
Former Mayor Raymond Watkin and former finance commissioner Remigia Foy supported keeping the commission form of government at the Aug. 8 meeting. Foy noted the current system has served the city since 1915, and said any type of government is only as good as the people who comprise it.
Critics of the review commission maintain this is not the correct process nor the correct time to propose a change in government.
`There is no question that the (charter review commission’s) time in this has been short, and I don’t see how they have the time to do this without doing the taxpayers an injustice,` said Commissioner of Public Works Thomas McTygue. `To be holding these meetings in August in Saratoga is no way to do business. People’s minds are not on politics and not on changing the government.`
McTygue said the commission should take the time to properly examine how any proposed change will affect the city’s budget, and research what positions would need to be eliminated or created in order to facilitate the change.
McTygue also accuses Keehn of handing a mandate down to the commission to propose a government with a stronger mayoral position.
`This is truly one-sided,` he said. `This is the mayor’s commission, the mayor’s mandate and the mayor’s expediency in wanting to get this done.`
Keehn, however, said the mandate has come from her constituents.
Lynn Goodness, a founding member of the group Citizens for Good Government, said he’s collected hundreds of signatures from residents who want reform, and he has submitted them to the Mayor’s office.
It was in response to this position, and not of any desire to usurp power, Keehn said, that caused her to resurrect the charter review commission.
`If I run for re-election in 2007, I run as the mayor of the committee form of government, or the mayor of some other form of government,` she said. `This doesn’t provide Val Keehn with any more power.`
The charter review commission’s information is available at City Hall, Saratoga Springs Public Library, and on the city’s Web site at www.saratoga-springs.org. The commission meets at the library at 6:30 p.m. each Tuesday and Wednesday in August.“