The Saratoga Springs Civilian Review Board hasn’t met in over a year. Now, amid concerns over inertia and a lack of proper training, a new member has been appointed without a clear path forward.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll, who won his seat with GOP backing, appointed 21-year-old Justin Garfolo to the five-member board.
The CRB was a contested part of the city's state-mandated Police Reform Task Force’s 50-point plan published in 2021. The board wasn't actualized until 2023.
The appointment comes after Commissioners Dillon Moran and Minita Sanghvi, both Democrats, criticized Coll and Republican Mayor John Safford for the lack of progress with the body. Coll denies that.
“I don’t believe my actions indicate at all that I was dragging my feet. And I wanted to mention this – our police department is honorable, they work with integrity. We have 80 officers that answer 27,000 calls per year we are all welcoming—we welcome constructive criticism as long as they come from fair and impartial sources. We are not afraid of oversight,” said Coll.
Moran tells WAMC he’s disappointed that the board hasn’t held regular meetings. And he notes that many of the 50 reform points called for by local activists for years remained uncompleted.
“The police department put the time in, put the effort in and they got more than—28 points of the 50 have been completed to date and I think that’s tremendous work by the police department. Other than the bringing in of the peer-to-peer counselors, which again incredibly important point and I don’t want to minimize the inclusion of that, outside of that there’s been no progress. And that’s not OK,” said Moran.
Beginning this year, trained counselors have begun integrating with city police patrols in partnership with RISE Housing and Support Services to better serve the city’s unhoused residents and address mental health incidents.
Kristen Dart, who ran for Public Safety Commissioner in 2023, was the board’s original chair. She’s been critical of the state of the board, which she says has fallen into limbo due to a lack of proper mediation training for its members.
“The reason why the committee has not met is because it would be irresponsible for us as a committee to take complaints and then not be able to process them through a required ordinance. So, that process has been stalled,” said Dart.
Dart’s term as chair of the board ended in December. She says she’s applied for the role again but Safford tells WAMC he’s going in a different direction.
“I have somewhere between 15 and 17 committees and boards that I’m responsible for. CRB is just one of them. But if things seem to be not working the way they should, I often will just get a new chairman, just a little bit of a different direction. And that’s what I’m working on with the CRB right now to find a different chairman,” said Safford.
Safford adds he’d like Dart to remain on the board but needs to find a new chair before moving forward with mediation training. Each city council appoints one member of the board. The members serve staggered terms up to three years.
