After eight years leading the City of Troy, Democratic Mayor Patrick Madden is preparing to step down after Republican Carmella Mantello was elected to succeed him last month. Under Troy’s city charter, Madden is prevented from seeking a third term.
With a transition process underway, WAMC's Lucas Willard spoke with Mayor Madden this week as he reflects on his time leading the Collar City.
I think I'll be reflecting for a few years. It's been a rather hectic pace for eight years. But I do believe that we got a lot done that we should be proud of. Obviously, the straightening out the city's finances was significant. A lot of people, though, do ask the question, “So why, what's the big deal about having a great bond rating?” And when I tell people is when we paid off the old debt, the old operating debt that we had, it gives us the ability to use today's resources on today's needs, instead of today's resources on the utilities we burned 30 years ago, or the staples we bought 30 years ago. So, we have aligned our current needs with our current ability. And that's important, and I think it does leave the next administration a very, very solid foundation off of which to build. I'm not suggesting that we're flush. But we are in a very good place. Our bond rating has, this is the highest it's ever been. So, it gives us flexibility. It gives us the ability to invest in today's needs, and today's kids and today's taxpayers. That's significant. I think, though, probably, equally important is a significant focus of my administration has been investing in our infrastructure. During the period of time where we were servicing all this old debt, we weren't investing in things like our parks, our streets or sidewalks, our parking garages, in fact, our city hall, the one we had to tear, well, we didn't have to, but the one that was torn down about 12 years ago now. And so, we have begun reinvesting in that. We've invested in our water system, the transmission lines, filtration plant. We've invested in our parks, significant investment in our parks. We have paved, milled and paved more than a third of the city over the past eight years. So, we're taking care of things that were neglected. And we're investing so that those who come after us will enjoy the benefits of the infrastructure of the city. The way I look at it, you know, we were gifted by those who came before us, things like the water treatment plant, the water and sewer lines, the streets, the bridges, the buildings, and then the intangibles, the institutions in our city. And it's always been my view that we have an obligation to be a good steward of that, and to equally invest so that those who follow us can enjoy the same benefits that we've enjoyed. So, we've tried to focus on not just today's taxpayers, but their children and their grandchildren as well. So that I think there's a lot to be proud about. However, I, you know, I'll be the first to acknowledge the only thing I see right now, when I walked down the street is everything I didn't get done.
What's something that glares out at you? What's something that you see, when you walk down the street and think, “Oh, that's one.”
Well, you know, I see. I see Monument Square still being undeveloped.
That's the site of the city hall, you were just mentioning.
Correct. Yep. I do see, you know, undeveloped land along the South Troy waterfront, that could be generating revenue and contributing to the quality of life and the city. Although we've invested a good bit in the parks, they're not where I want them to be yet. So that, the entryways to our cities, there's lots of things that remain undone, although one of my, one of my predecessors reminded me that I could be in the job 100 years and I'd still turn around at the end and say, “Oh, I didn't get to this. I didn't get to that.” It's a job. That's never done. There's always more to do. There's always something else that can be can be improved.
On the whole, do you think you are leaving Troy better than how you found it?
Unquestionably. And, you know, I'm not one to brag. But I have to say in this instance, that it is unquestionably better than when we came in.
Now, back to finances and long-term sustainability. In this time of inflation and high housing costs in aging infrastructure, is the city on a path to sustainability while you're stepping away?
It is, but it's going to take work. And by that, I mean, it's going to take…I should say it's going to take discipline, it's going to take saying “no” more often than you would like to. I think the times of financial stress that we're living in now points to the fragility of municipal finance in general. We rely predominantly on three main funding sources. And that's state aid. that's real estate taxes, and that sales tax. That probably constitutes 80% of our revenue. They are all very susceptible to downturns in the economy. So, your sales tax proceeds can decline. In a bad economy, the state's resources decline, and there's pressure to reduce aid to localities. And it's the very time when it's most difficult to raise local property taxes, because individuals are having a hard time. So, during those dips in the economy, the very times when you need more resources, is the very time when it's most difficult to raise more resources. That's a structural problem that the state has with municipal finance that needs to be addressed in some fashion. So, as we move through this time, with high inflation, a high cost of money, we're fortunate we're still seeing good solid sales tax revenues but the state is going to have some fiscal problems ahead and that will, that could challenge localities. So, we are not at a point where we can give away the candy store. We have to be mindful of every penny we spend and commit and every fee we raise. But we are on a sustainable glide path right now.
Do you believe that the city has acted responsibly enough when it comes to ARPA dollars, and not spending money and then leaving future holes and funding gaps because of a one-time allotment of federal dollars?
Yes, that's a great question. And it's something we recognized early. When I when I came into office, I was quite clear that our fiscal discipline would be that all recurring expenses need to be covered by recurring revenues. So, when ARPA came in, and other grant sources, if they were one-shots, we did everything we could to ensure that they went to one-time expenditures. And we did that with ARPA. So, we didn't stand up new programs that would require ongoing annual allotments of revenue. We invested more in capital expenditures or buying upgrades to something. So, we're investing in parks, as an example. We're investing in replacing lead pipes, things that won’t have recurring needs in successive years. So, I think we've been very, very diligent in making sure that we don't create a dependency that becomes problematic when the ARPA funds are expended.
So just moving away from finances, do you think that you, your administration, your office has acted transparently enough when it comes to police? There's a couple of big cases that happened during your time as mayor, the death of Edson Thevenin in a police shooting. And then more recently, there was a man, a father of twins who died when an officer went through a light without, without the lights and sirens on, went through an intersection without the lights and sirens? Do you think that your administration has acted transparently enough with the public and in communicating about these difficult issues?
I think “transparently enough” is an interesting way to phrase it. We are bound by laws. And there are times when we're we can't give out information as much as we would like to, as much as we're dying to say something. We don't want to run afoul of the Attorney General's office or some other investigatory body. And it's really, really frustrating because you do want to say something, you don't want to appear heartless. And if there's responsibility to be taken, you would like to take that responsibility. You'd like to stand up and say, “Okay, we blew it here, or we didn't blow it here, or the facts show this and not that.” But oftentimes, we're constrained in what we can say. And my background is in law. And so, I also have a deep respect for due process, both for individual civilians, but also due process for police officers. So, we need to go through a process internally to come to conclusions about what happened. Oftentimes, we can even begin that if somebody else is investigating at a higher legal authority. So, I understand that these things drag out for a long time. And I understand that because of that, sometimes the public is suspicious that we're trying to hide things. We would want nothing more than to be able to dispel that notion. But our hands are tied in all of the instances that mentioned. And with respect to Edison Thevenin, and when that concluded, we released everything. So, every document that we had was available, every report from the AG, from private investigators, etc, was available to the public. So, it ultimately did come out. Did it come out as fast as people wanted? No. Did it come out as fast as I wanted? No. But you know, it does come out.
And Edson Thevenin’s name is still held up in protests, especially since the BLM protests that more frequent after 2020. Is there any way that the city can improve, or you think the city could improve communication with the public in regard to sensitive investigations like that?
I think we've done what we can, which is, when we are legally able to proceed, we do release the information. We're not hiding it for the purpose of obscuring facts. We're just trying to comply with directives that are imposed upon us. So when we're able to, we do release it. Again, I'd love to do it sooner. I'd love to be able to talk about these things more quickly, but I'm trying to honor the legal process. I'm also trying to honor due process for everybody involved.
So, let's talk about the transition. City Council President Mantello will be taking the corner office in January. Have you been meeting with Carmella? And have you had those conversations about the transition?
Sure, we've offered our complete cooperation. And I know her team is meeting individually with some of my department heads, probably as we speak, in this moment. But she and I meet regularly. I am constantly making lists of things that pop into my head that I say, “Oh, I gotta pass this on. I have to pass that on.” It's the proper thing to do. We haven't had a particularly collaborative relationship. But I do realize that it is my duty and obligation to make sure that I set her up for success as best I can. And that's what I'm doing.
What are you optimistic about in the City of Troy, moving forward when you're no longer mayor?
Oh, nothing It all depended on me (laughs). I'm optimistic that we've gotten through some big hurdles. I'm very optimistic about the work that the police department has done, for example, around mental health. I think we have a model program. I think we have exceedingly high training standards. I think we are, I’m very optimistic about the police department. We've had some challenges in the fire department with respect to staffing, I think we are in the process of getting over that hurdle. And I'm optimistic about investment in our parks and the things that make Troy livable. I'm optimistic about our finances. There's a lot to be optimistic about in Troy. I think, I truly do think we have turned a corner. And I'm not wanting to take credit for for all of that. I do recognize that the taxpayers had a role in that, the department heads had a role in that, the governor's office had a role in that. I mean, and honestly, we had a good tailwind from the economy as well, that helped us with that. So it took the confluence of a number of actors and a number of factors to get us to where we are and I'm optimistic that we can make some significant strides from here.
So, what's next for you?
Good question. I have. I'm a person who in every job I've ever have, have had I've over-invested myself in it to the detriment of family and friends. So, I have some reparations to make in my family life and a commitment I have made my wife that whatever comes next will be the product of a conversation between us. And so, we're going to take a little bit of time off and sort of decompress and then look at the future. It's hard to imagine and I suspect most people feel this way, that when they get to my age, it's hard to imagine not working. I've always had, it's always been important to me to be a value to my community. So, there's a lot of ways to do that. And most of them, if not all of them, will not be nearly as stressful as this one was. So, it's trying to find a balance and trying to find a place where what I have accumulated to this point in my life in terms of knowledge and experience, can get translated into something that makes the community better.
Mayor Madden, thanks for coming in. I appreciate it.
Thank you. It's been great.
