The mood was anything but calm at a Candidate Forum at Saratoga Springs High School on Wednesday, Oct. 19, when candidates for mayor, commissioner of public safety and commissioner of finance faced off.
Sponsored by the League of Women Voters and The Spotlight, the forum pitted incumbents and challengers against one another to debate a series of audience-submitted questions. Uncontested candidates for two Saratoga Springs supervisor positions (Matthew Veitch and Joanne Yepsen), commissioner of accounts (John Franck) and commissioner of public works (Anthony Scirocco) were also able to make a brief statement.
Mayoral challenger Brent Wilkes (D) made his opinion of current-Mayor Scott Johnson’s (R, C, I) time in office clear in his opening statement.
“The message that I hear is loud and clear; it resonates throughout the city. Scott Johnson does not listen, Scott Johnson does not plan, Scott Johnson does not manage. In short, Scott Johnson does not lead,” said Wilkes. “It is time for a change. I am running for mayor because so many people are clamoring for change.”
Wilkes said he could bring “40 years of experience in management of cities” and would improve the “effectiveness” of Spa City government because he has started his own company, created jobs and kept his employees “productive and happy.”
Johnson, who took office in 2008, said Saratoga Springs is a “much different city” today than it was when he began his term.
“When I took office … frankly, it was the subject of embarrassment often within the Capital Region in terms of how we operate in our government,” said Johnson. “I’m proud to have restored civility and professionalism and a new sense of direction to our city over the past four years.”
Working across party lines has been a prime achievement of his tenure, said Johnson.
“Presently we have a very workable team, a real team effort toward solving the problems of our city on the Council,” said Johnson.
Johnson said highlights of his accomplishments in office include completion of the city’s Recreation Center, consolidating healthcare to save “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” VLT restoration, putting a comprehensive Capital Program in place and improving efficiencies within each department at City Hall.
“I have a proven track record,” said Johnson.
Chris Mathiesen (D), vying for the commissioner of public safety seat, said in his opening statement that he wants to “work together for a safe and vibrant city” and would accomplish that by keeping communication lines open and cooperating with all city departments.
Incumbent Commissioner of Public Safety Richard Wirth (R,C) said he’s strived to bring “common sense solutions” to the department during his first year in office.
“It’s been a priority that we spend taxpayer money carefully and find new revenue sources to reduce the tax burden,” said Wirth, who said he’s worked to “significantly” reduce overtime within the department. “Police officers and firefighters deserve to be compensated for the tremendous work they do but extreme examples of overtime spending were unacceptable and needed to be changed.”
Michele Madigan (D) is running for commissioner of finance and cited “accurate and reliable” budgetary practice as a cornerstone of her campaign.
“I’m a fiscal officer who understands revenues and expenditures and can use them to produce reliable projects in the near future,” said Madigan. “I understand the impact of the city’s financial actions and without this the city faces a great deal of risk; not only risk of running out of money but risk of serious reduction of essential services, needless increase in property taxes.”
Commissioner of Finance Ken Ivins (R,C,I) said he’s proud of the city’s fiscal state and what he’s been able to improve in a budgetary sense since taking office three years ago.
“Despite soaring healthcare and retirement costs I found ways to cut spending and still provide essential services together with my fellow council members,” said Ivins. “We have built up our rainy day fund, created long-term tax stabilization fund to make budgeting more predictable and protect against changes outside of the City Council’s control.”
The first question out of the gates touched on the city’s charter and a much contested issue between Saratoga Citizen and the city about placing an item on the ballot that would allow citizens to vote on the form of government (managerial or commission).
Wilkes said it’s “no secret” he’s been a supporter of and worked with Saratoga Citizen and said the group’s petition to the city for a ballot item was sufficient.
“Under New York State law, citizens may petition for new government and what Saratoga Citizen did … was put together a proposed charter and collected more than enough signatures in accordance with that law,” said Wilkes. “Scott Johnson has derailed that process, using tens of thousands of tax dollars going to outside legal counsel and claiming there was no fiscal analysis even though he was presented with a fiscal analysis seven days after first requesting it.”
Wilkes said Johnson was creating “voter suppression,” a claim Johnson took quick issue with.
“There is no voter suppression happening in the city,” said Johnson. “I’ve stated many times it is simply propaganda in the context of campaign process.”
The current city charter does need revision, said Johnson, and he would be willing to appoint a charter commission after the court case is resolved.
“It’s the proper procedure to follow, I believe, under law and as mayor of the city,” said Johnson. “I voted in favor of pursuing legal action because I believe it’s my fiscal responsibility to the city under my sworn oath as mayor.”
A commission form of government would not be the right choice for Saratoga Springs, said Mathiesen.
“I don’t believe it’s appropriate for most municipalities in this day and age. It was a reform type of municipal government back in the turn of the last century that was popular for a short period of time,” said Mathiesen. “I respect people who feel otherwise.”
Wirth said he’s worked in other forms of government and understands how both work; with the population of Saratoga Springs, though, the current form of government is better suited.
“This government works, in my opinion. It’s civil and it works,” said Wirth.
Madigan said she believes that voters have the right to bring the issue to ballot for a vote. Ivins said he voted to allow the public to vote on the issue but is not convinced Saratoga Citizen’s charter proposal would solve issues.
“In fact, it ignores a lot of those issues I believe need to be addressed,” said Ivins.
Citizens wanted to know candidates’ stance on the use of outside counsel for litigation and union negotiations.
Johnson said he stands by and defends his choices to use outside counsel for various situations. With regard to union negotiations, outside counsel was a responsible decision to save the city money.
“Every savings we can effectuate through better negotiations is a service to the taxpayer and city in general,” said Johnson.
Johnson dismissed allegations that his department had overspent its budget for outside legal fees.
“My first year in office, 2008, I came in from a predecessor with $235,000 for outside services to spend if needed; I spent $82,000 of that amount compared to a spending of $93,000 by my predecessor,” said Johnson. “The next year [2009] I spent $183,000 on a budget of $175,000. Why the excess? Because we had a number of suits facing the city at that time. We had a DEC investigation over an oil spill at the west side garage that cost $60,000 alone in legal fees.”
Despite alleging Johnson overspent the budget for outside legal counsel, Wilkes said the city hasn’t fulfilled FOIL requests to review paid invoices for legal services that used outside counsel. He also said Johnson “not listening” is what lead to lawsuits and a need for counsel.
“When we don’t listen and engage in dialogue, the result is often litigation,” said Wilkes. “I would stop litigation as a common form of conflict resolution. We need to talk more. Talk is cheap.”
Johnson used his red card to buy more time and proceeded to break down the city’s history of lawsuits filed against it and how many required outside counsel, even before he took office. Since he took office, he said his track record has been in line with or better than his predecessors.
Johnson said his first year there were 15 claims against the city and five went to outside counsel; there were seven in 2009 and three went to outside counsel; and there were 13 in 2010 with seven going to outside counsel.
“Mr. Wilkes apparently doesn’t know how to read a budget or understand the actual data,” said Johnson.
Wilkes threw his red card for a rebuttal.
“I’m happy to and quite capable of understanding data when I can see it. It’s hard when you’re not provided with data,” said Wilkes. “We have FOILed data on this issue from the city and have been denied access to the data.”
Wirth and Ivins defended Johnson’s use of outside counsel and said it was appropriate and necessary.
“I feel the mayor was justified in hiring outside help as he did,” said Wirth.
Many of the claims that received outside counsel were complex issues that warranted it, said Ivins, and union contract negotiations required an outside look.
“It is important for us to go to bat on an even scale and negotiate to get things back on track. It is tough to go backwards; once you give it up, it’s tough to get things back,” said Ivins. “[With] union contracts we need all the professional help we can get in there. To do that is worth every penny.”
Crime in the city and whether or not there is an appropriate police presence was the topic of another question, as well as overtime and layoffs in the public safety department.
“Due to police layoffs, fewer police officers are available to do DWIs and do road patrols. …We have a police force of 62 or 63 individuals when historically we had 72,” said Mathiesen. “Overtime has to go up when you have fewer people to provide services. The city saw fit to cut back on the number of police and as a result, services are going to be less.”
Layoffs in the police department are something that he had nothing to do with, said Wirth.
“My first year in term, 2010, we were with seven less positions and this was in the budget beyond my control. I wasn’t present at that time,” said Wirth.
Parking has long been an issue in the downtown sector and audience members wanted to know whether or not candidates felt the proposed Woodlawn Avenue Parking Deck would satisfy those needs.
Madigan said she’s not “in favor or against it” but suggested projected sales tax revenues included in the budget that the parking deck was expected to generate might be inflated.
“We will be without significant parking while this is built. …We project increased sales tax revenue in our budget based on this new parking lot and I’m not sure we’ll meet that sales tax revenue because we’ll be down parking this year until the parking deck is built,” said Madigan.
Wilkes said the parking deck proposal doesn’t address every issue and the city needs a more comprehensive “parking strategy” but Johnson said the parking deck project is something he’s proud to have brought closer to fruition.
“I was proud to lead the first bipartisan, public-private partnership that addressed this need,” said Johnson. “I’m proud we were able to address the need for additional downtown parking that has gone unanswered for so many years and impacted local economy.”
Mathiesen said he thought the project was moving forward too quickly without enough consideration as to exactly how much income the parking deck would bring in to the city.
Wirth and Ivins said the time is right for the parking deck project, with the city being able to afford it.
“We are growing as a city and want to continue to grow. I’d like to see a third deck and another behind City Hall,” said Ivins.
The next Candidate Forum will feature candidates for offices in Clifton Park and Halfmoon and will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at Halfmoon Town Hall at 2 Halfmoon Plaza at 7 p.m.