Saratoga Springs’ Deputy Public Works Commissioner has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.
Joe O’Neill was charged with official misconduct in November and was suspended without pay for five days. O’Neill and former Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub were charged for alleged incidents where city employees worked on private property using city resources while on city time.
Judge Jeffrey Wait waived a fine following O’Neill’s plea.
O’Neill and his attorney Oscar Schreiber declined to comment following court Tuesday morning, though Schreiber previously claimed the case was politically motivated.
Interim DPW commissioner Hank Kuczynski says he does not believe the case has impacted O’Neill’s ability to help run the department.
“Yes, I don’t comment on legal matters, but administratively we’ve dealt with this in a disciplinary matter and this matter is closed,” said Kuczynski.
Kuczynski took the role following months of turmoil after Golub left for a state job in August. While he initially said he’d fill the role until an election would select a permanent replacement, he has now entered the race for the January 28th election as a write-in candidate against Republican Chuck Marshall.
Golub pleaded not guilty last year. His attorney Karl Sleight spoke with reporters after an initial appearance in court in November.
“Well, the preliminary disclosures by the District Attorney’s office suggest that Commissioner Coll was intimately involved in this manner. The more we look at this, the real question here is, what was the motivation for charges? As I’ve said from the beginning, this case involved eight minutes, a jug of Drano, a clogged sink. My question is, what motivated someone to try to charge an attorney of the stature of my client months after the event with this charge? We’ll get to the bottom of it, and it starts today,” said Sleight.
Sleight brought two issues to Judge Wait—one was to file a subpoena for the HR file the case seemingly emanates from and the other was to declare his intention to have the Saratoga County District Attorney’s office search Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll’s personal and city phone records for information related to the case.
In 2022, before he was in office, Coll, a retired FBI agent, criticized Golub for comments he made during a discussion on an aggressive panhandling resolution.
At the time, Golub raised concerns that city police might take the word of a “rich white lady” over that of an unhoused person.
“Like, if I raise my hand and say, ‘She’s too close to me. This is egregious.’ Well, OK. What happens? You’re going to have one, you’re going to have a rich white lady over here who says that and you’re going to have a homeless person. So, who are you going to believe?” said Golub.
Speaking with WAMC, Coll acknowledged he complained about the comment at the time.
“I did make a referral, because he’s a lawyer, to his place of employment. I made a referral to the Bar Association as well because no one, no lawyer, no law enforcement official, again, should be making comments on people’s status. And that did bother me quite a bit,” said Coll.
While Coll says his relationship with Golub is now cordial, Sleight has rejected that narrative.
“No. I— the motivation of this case will become apparent in due time and when that happens, there will be a reckoning,” said Sleight.
Golub is due back in court Thursday.
