A former Saratoga Springs city councilor is preparing to sue the current public safety commissioner, the city, and a police officer and the city’s Democratic party is grappling with the impact of the potential suit.
Last week, the city’s previous Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub filed a notice of claim against Current Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll, who won his seat in 2023 with GOP backing.
Golub, a Democrat, stepped down from his city post in August 2024 to take a governor-appointed role at the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Golub’s legal filing stems from a November case in which he and his deputy were charged with official misconduct for an alleged incident in which DPW employees worked on Golub’s private property to unclog a drain while still on the city’s clock.
Golub’s attorney Karl Sleight in May called the case ‘unserious’ and moved to have it dismissed.
“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.
The case was ultimately dismissed by City Court Judge Jeffrey Waite. In his June order, Waite said the facts of the case did not support the charge as filed – the evidence did not show that Jason knew the DPW workers were still on the clock.
In a statement, Brian Mahoney, another attorney for Golub, said the city is “more interested in violating Jason’s constitutional rights and punishing the first Black elected member of the city council, than it is in recognizing the error of its ways.”
Mahoney says Golub’s notice of claim filed last week threatens to sue the city for damaging his reputation and violating his Constitutional rights with the drain-work investigation.
But Coll hasn’t backed down. On Tuesday, the public safety commissioner released a report from the city’s Human Resources Department that found city employees worked on Golub’s property at the city’s expense.
In the statement, Coll also rejected the claim that he and city police maliciously investigated Golub.
The legal back and forth has stirred up politics in the Spa city. In November, Coll is set to appear on multiple lines, including on the Democrat’s line. In fact, he’s running unopposed.
Democratic City Supervisor Michele Madigan, who is challenging Republican John Safford for his mayoral seat in November, says Golub’s potential suit is a point of friction between city Democrats and Coll.
“Unfortunately the Democrats didn’t come up with a person to run on the Democratic line. And at the time he was well received by the Democratic party. But, as these things have been unfolding, you know, what we did in February, unfortunately, I can’t speak for everyone on the committee but I’m not sure the committee would vote now to endorse him again,” said Madigan.
Democratic Committee Chair Otis Maxwell says there are no plans to take Coll off the Democratic line.
“He is our endorsed candidate. We don’t have a procedure for disendorsing a candidate at this point. We have disagreed publicly on some things. Some of us have spoken out at city council against some things he’s involved with such as the approach to how to handle homeless folks. But we agree with him on some other things. And he supports the majority of our platform which is very important to us. So, I would hope that we would be able to have smooth sailing,” said Maxwell.
