Despite progress by the Saratoga Springs city council, work to elect a new Public Works Commissioner has hit a roadblock at the Saratoga County Board of Elections.
Saratoga Springs has been without a Public Works Commissioner since mid-August after Jason Golub took a governor-appointed role at the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Democrats Dillon Moran and Minita Sanghvi have been calling for a special election.
Republican Mayor John Safford and Tim Coll, who won his seat as Public Safety Commissioner with GOP backing, want to establish an appointment committee.
After months of debate, the four council members recently approved a proposal to set a special election January 28th.
But that plan is being met with resistance from Republican Saratoga County Board of Elections Commissioner Joseph Suhrada.
“I think I’m doing a giant favor for Dillon Moran and the rest because this is a very ill-thought-out plan at this time. Until an opinion comes from the attorney general or it’s ordered by the governor, I can’t say that I’m in favor of an election,” said Suhrada.
In an October 16th email to city councilors, Suhrada said the proposal “is at the wrong time and without lawful premise." Democratic commissioner Cassandra Bagramian said the date is fine but emphasized that both commissioners have to agree.
Had Golub vacated his role by August 5th, Suhrada says it would have been his duty to help put on an election this November.
“I’m governed by state election law so the Democratic counsel at the state Board of Elections Brian Quail sent a letter to Saratoga Springs when they inquired and he instructed them, basically he agreed with me that they had not met the deadline to put the election on the ballot in November. They their election would be November of’25, one year from now. And that’s exactly my position, the way I read the election law because there’s no provision any more in the election law for local special elections,” said Suhrada.
City attorneys have told the council that a special election would be legal.
Moran, who heads the city’s Accounts Department, says Suhrada incorrectly cited the September 16th letter from Quail, and the city may take additional legal action to move ahead with an election.
“Their job is to run elections. Their job is not to pass judgements upon the governing document of the city of Saratoga Springs and to do so so pejoratively demonstrates to me that this is a person who does not believe in the foundations of the actual job that he has which is to provide the opportunity for people to exercise the franchise and elect their leaders,” said Moran.
In his email, Suhrada called the city’s charter “antique” and expressed concerns over a January election’s potential low voter turnout.
Despite the latest hurdle, Moran is committed to holding an election.
“I’m pleased that we had a unanimous vote on the date for January 28th and I appreciate my fellow council members for having that vote. We all aligned in the fact that at this point in time it’s time to have our election. Interference with our election will not be accepted nor will we sit idly by while someone who’s not elected, who’s not from our community tells us how we can go about managing our city,” said Moran.
Suhrada, who also chairs the Saratoga County Republican Committee, estimates a special election will cost city taxpayers $40,000.
“If someone is elected in an illegitimate election will [the voter’s] votes count? Or will they end up being litigated and will the city of Saratoga be sued for millions of dollars by taxpayers or residents and will this become a giant disaster and cause Saratoga Springs to become a laughingstock,” said Suhrada.
Moran and Sanghvi have previously said they won’t vote to move forward with an appointment committee until a special election date is approved by the county Board of Elections.