The Saratoga Springs City Council will have several new faces after candidates are chosen in Tuesday’s election.
Three members of the Saratoga Springs city council are not seeking re-election: Mayor Meg Kelly, Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan, and Commissioner of Accounts John Franck, all Democrats.
Republican Public Works Commissioner Skip Scirocco is seeking re-election, and Public Safety Commissioner Robin Dalton is running to replace Kelly as mayor as an independent candidate. Also running for mayor are Democrat Ron Kim and Heidi Owen West on the Republican line.
At the center of discussion in Saratoga Springs politics is relations between the city police department and racial justice advocates.
Dalton has touted her experience “in the trenches” in city hall during the pandemic. The current Public Safety Commissioner is running on the Saratoga Stronger Together line after leaving the Republican Party earlier this year. She proposed an ordinance that establishes a framework for a community police review board. Dalton is expected to present a revised version at Monday’s city council meeting. An initial draft was met with criticism from activists, as well as from Mayor Kelly.
Dalton said during a League of Women Voters Forum earlier this month that she envisions a community policing model.
“I have a budget proposal in that would establish a community engagement department within our police department that would work from September through June that would engage in community policing in a way that I have heard our community ask for and need so desperately,” said Dalton.
Democrat Ron Kim, a former Public Safety Commissioner, is also in favor of a civilian police review board, though differs in approach. Kim has campaigned on a platform of adopting all 50 recommendations approved by the city’s Police Reform Task Force earlier this year. Some items, including the CRB, were separated out for further study by the city council.
Kim made an appeal to racial justice protesters during his campaign kickoff in the spring, saying “I hear you.”
“I’m not going to compromise on making sure that we make the police department accountable and transparent. But I also want to keep both those ideas in mind, that yes, there’s racism, there’s problems with policing, but we also have good cops,” said Kim.
Heidi Owen West, an entrepreneur who owns three downtown clothing stores, is a first-time political candidate. West, who has said she will remain an unaffiliated voter while appearing on the Republican line, has touted her private sector experience. West, also in support of a CRB in principle, has called for more dialogue between city officials and the public outside of City Hall.
“Especially between the community and public safety and the police department, and work together and make sure all voices are heard,” said West in a LWV forum.
Nearly all candidates running for public office in Saratoga Springs have supported the creation of a CRB in principle, though one candidate, Commissioner of Accounts hopeful Samantha Guerra, a Republican, said such a body would not bring common ground between the police and community.
Guerra is also the only candidate to appear on the Working Families Party line to have participated in any public debate, part of a group of conservative-learning candidates who petitioned to appear on the traditionally progressive line.
Also seeking the Accounts Commissioner position are Democrat Dillon Moran, who previously ran for Commissioner of Public Works, and Angela Rella, an independent candidate on her own Accountability Party line.
Seeking Commissioner of Public Safety are Jim Montagnino, a Democrat, and Tracey LaBelle, a Republican. Montagnino cited the case of Darryl Mount Jr., a biracial man who death months after a police foot chase in August 2013, as the reason for his run for city office. LaBelle, the daughter of the city’s longest-serving city court judge, is also a first-time candidate who touted her decision-making experience as a medical device specialist.
Running for Commissioner of Finance are Republican JoAnne Kiernan, a CPA and former president of the Saratoga Springs school board, Democrat Minita Sanghvi, a professor of business at Skidmore College, and Adam Israel, an entrepreneur who will appear on Dalton’s Saratoga Stronger Together line.
As Republican Public Works Commissioner Skip Scirocco runs for re-election, he faces a challenge from newcomer Domenique Yermolayev, a Democrat.
The city’s two county supervisors, Matthew Veitch and Tara Gaston, a Republican and Democrat respectively, are also seeking re-election. Veitch is being challenged by Democrat Shaun Wiggins, a businessman with background as a CIA operative, while Republican John Safford, a former mayoral candidate, is making his second run for supervisor against Gaston.
