After months of debate, Saratoga Springs city councilors have appointed an interim Public Works Commissioner.
Jason Golub stepped down from the post mid-August to begin a governor-appointed role at the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Months of often contentious debates on how to fill the empty seat on the five-person council followed.
Democratic councilors Dillon Moran and Minita Sanghvi pushed for a special election, as per the city charter. Had Golub resigned on or before August 5th, procedures to get the seat on November’s ballot would have kicked in automatically.
Republican Mayor John Safford and Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll, who won his seat with GOP backing, wanted to establish an appointment committee to fill the seat until an election could be held.
At a budget workshop Tuesday evening, the four commissioners unanimously appointed Hank Kuczynski interim head of the city’s second-largest department.
“The council had trouble coming to a conclusion on making an appointment and my wife suggested I write to them. So, I wrote to the council, and I met with all of them and I said I’m available to serve until there’s a special election but I did insist that if they were going to move I would be available but I had to get in here during budget time, because I wanted to make sure that the Department of Public Works was funded so that we could deliver the services to the community, ” said Kuczynski.
Kuczynski served as deputy mayor under Democrat Ken Klotz more than two decades ago.
City councilors recently sent a resolution to hold a special election for the role January 28th to the Saratoga County Board of Elections. That’s been held up by the board’s Republican Commissioner Joe Suhrada.
Kuczynski says he doesn’t plan on running for the post.
“I would look at it this way, I am a temporary appointee for the Commissioner of Public Works. I am not a candidate to run in a special election. So, I have no political agenda, I don’t have to do any political posturing and think about getting elected. I can just do the job, vote at the table, and try to do the best for the city,” said Kuczynski.
Mayor Safford is happy to be moving past the months of deadlock.
“Like I’ve said this isn’t about politics right now especially. It’s about the city and what’s best for us to move forward. We needed to do this. This opportunity came up and I knew that there were three votes. So, I had my plan but it didn’t work so, I’m very happy that the more I get to know Commissioner Kuczynski the more I think he’s going to be fair, open minded, and will put the interests of the city first,” said Safford.
Suhrada objected to approving the election date before getting further clarification from the state Attorney General and warned about low turnout following November’s election as well as potential costs.
In a text message Wednesday, Surhada said his concerns regarding the legality of the election had been satisfied by a letter from the AG, adding "we now need to work out the costs and are examining the law on that point but I don't see impeding the 1/28 date set by the city after this long-awaited clarification!"
Safford is committed to holding an election.
“My commissioner in Ballston Spa has been concerned about certain questions that he wanted answers, and we’ve answered those. I mean, now we’re into this November election, I’m sure he’s busy as anything. So, I’m trying to make excuses for why he hasn’t made that decision. But I expect that he will make that decision in favor of a special election. I’m looking forward to that,” said Safford.
Finance Commissioner Sangvhi is ready to move forward.
“The idea here is that he is going to be in office only until the special election and really is sort of stepping in at a point where were in a 2-2 stalemate and this allows us to have the fifth person which I’ve been advocating for for the budget process because it’s really important the DPW have a voice during the budget process. However, I didn’t want to elect someone without a special election date because I didn’t know what the end period would be,” said Sangvhi.
The 2025 budget deadline is November 30th.