Former Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub has filed a motion to dismiss his official misconduct charge.
Last month, Jason Golub and his attorney Karl Sleight appeared before Saratoga Springs City Court Judge Jeffrey Wait three months after entering a not guilty plea to charges linked to alleged incidents in December 2023 where city employees worked on Golub’s private property using city resources while on city time. Golub left the department last August.
Now, Sleight has moved to dismiss the case.
“From the beginning we’ve taken the view this is an unserious case. I don’t think anyone thinks that a clogged drain, eight minutes, and drain cleaner or a jug of Drano is something serious that law enforcement should be spending a lot of time and resources on. But more importantly now, it’s abundantly clear and there’s no question in my view that the charge is not substantiated by the evidence that the police have,” said Sleight.
The incident involves a DPW staff member who was recruited by then-deputy commissioner Joe O’Neill and allegedly worked on the city’s clock and dime for less than 15 minutes. It was referred to the State Comptroller, who referred the case to New York State Police, who then referred the case to city police.
O’Neill recruited city plumber Ken Dooley to unclog a drain on Golub’s property on December 26th after work hours. Dooley and another DPW employee allegedly returned the following day to collect a drain snake and pour a chemical down the drain to clear it — without clocking out.
“There’s no evidence in the police file that Jason knew that the city DPW worker was ‘on the clock’ as they say and Jason Golub did not direct him to come to his house knowing he was on the clock. It’s a requirement under the law that Jason have an intent and a knowledge to do those things. He simply did not and every stitch of evidence in the police file corroborates that,” said Sleight.
In 2022, during a discussion on an aggressive panhandling resolution, Golub suggested city police might take the word of a “rich white lady” over that of an unhoused person. Tim Coll, who was elected Public Safety Commissioner in 2023, filed a number of complaints, including one to the state Bar Association, where he refers to his career as a former FBI agent.
The motion says Coll’s behavior toward Golub can be characterized as “extreme hostility.”
Coll disagrees with that characterization.
“I was very troubled a few years ago [by] what Jason said about referring to a ‘rich white lady’ referring to someone’s status as being rich or white or black or poor or yellow or whatever their status is, or sexual orientation, versus their activity. And I made that known at the time. About a week or two after that I sat down with Jason and we’ve had a fine relationship ever since that even when I was in office,” said Coll.
WAMC obtained the transcripts of interviews conducted by City Police Lieutenant Paul Veitch with Golub and O’Neill about the facts of the case.
Veitch suggested during his interviews with Golub and O’Neill that leaks of details about the case to the media were coming “from the second floor.” City Police headquarters are located on the ground level floor of city hall, with city councilors’ offices upstairs.
Sleight’s motion also claims they have not received complete records from the comptroller and state police or telephone and email records from Coll.
“We’ve asked since we first appeared in this case in arraignment for the text messages, emails, phone messages of Tim Coll. We filed FOIL requests with the city. We have been able to confirm that there are documents in the city’s possession of this description and we will continue to try to get those through the District Attorney’s office, through the city and other means if we have to,” said Sleight.
Sleight says those documents are vital to building a defense.
“Well, motive is important in any case and often you look at the defendant’s motive. And here, we’re looking at the motive of those who have decided to pursue these charges. The human resources unit, the city did not do anything with these. Somebody who’s a political blogger reported this to the comptroller’s office, they passed on the case, gave it to state police, they passed on the case. And it was only after Commissioner Coll’s police department received the case did it generate a lot of attention and resources which ultimately resulted in Jason being charged with a crime,” said Sleight.
Coll says he has complied fully with his discovery obligations.
“I had information subject to FOIL, potentially subject to FOIL, that I provided to our FOIL officers here in the city and ultimately they make the determination whether or not they should be turned over or not,” said Coll.
Coll told WAMC he cannot direct city police to pursue any case and is confident that he acted professionally and proper in this matter.
A trial date has not been set.
