A former longtime Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner is being remembered for decades of service to the city.
Tom McTygue, who spent more than three decades as the head of the city’s second-largest department, died Tuesday at 83.
McTygue served for 16 terms on and off from 1972 to 2008.
In a Facebook post, his daughter Sharon McTygue said her father “had a larger-than-life personality that he put to great use in the love he had for his family and friends, serving his community and always lending a hand to those in need.”
Former Mayor and Public Safety Commissioner Ron Kim was first elected in 2006 and says McTygue was a visionary.
“His term started back when Saratoga was not the Saratoga we all know and love today. And there were real fiscal difficulties. The downtown wasn’t as vibrant and he really saw the vision of a Saratoga that I think you see today if you walk down the street,” said Kim.
As commissioner, McTygue was committed to a number of beautification initiatives including planting yearly flower gardens throughout the city.
For Kim, the most memorable effort was McTygue’s push to secure funding for the Congress Park Carousel.
“He was sued by several individuals when he proposed to take this wonderful asset that the city had, this carousel which was up by Kaydeross Park, there were people saying that he was going to turn Congress Park into Coney Island, as ridiculous as it sounds,” said Kim.
McTygue spearheaded the effort to raise nearly $120,000 to purchase the carousel, and its 28 carved horses, which continues to be a seasonal attraction.
McTygue was a lifelong Democrat on an often majority-Republican city council. His obituary says the commissioner “understood that progress often required reaching across the aisle, and he worked tirelessly to build consensus among local and state leaders alike.”
Barbara Lombardo, the retired longtime editor of The Saratogian newspaper, says the late commissioner was “part of a family dynasty committed to civic service.”
“He had big ideas and sometimes they worked out and sometimes they didn’t. But he was steadfast about trying to get things done and working with people. Whether it’s getting state aid for the stuff the city needed or getting contractors to do what he needed to be done or getting the other people on the city council. At the time this was a majority-Republican city and he was a Democrat who was getting elected over and over and over,” said Lombardo.
His successor, Republican Anthony “Skip” Scirocco, died in 2022. Jason Golub served as the DPW commissioner until this August when he began a new role at the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Current Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran remembers McTygue as a “tremendous family man” and a politician who stood up for what he believed in.
“I’m 54 years old and the only person in the city of Saratoga Springs, or the planet earth for that matter, who has experience as Commissioner of Department of Public Works is Jason Golub. What does that tell you we just lost? Between Skip’s passing and Tom’s passing? We have lost a ton of goodwill and knowledge, a tremendous amount. And here we are, seemingly incapable of doing the right thing, yet those two, and I put Jason in that, spent all their time trying to do the right thing,” said Moran.
The DPW seat has remained empty for weeks while the city council has debated the correct path forward to appoint and elect an interim commissioner.
McTygue also joined the Saratoga Springs Fire Department and served as the Superintendent of Documents for the New York State Assembly as well as President of the Saratoga Horsepersons’ Association.
A funeral mass will be held Tuesday at Saint Clement’s Church in Saratoga Springs.
