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Former Officials Take Issue With Lawsuit Against Saratoga Springs City Council

Saratoga Springs City Hall
Lucas Willard
/
WAMC

  Note: This posted has been updated.

A group of former city officials in Saratoga Springs last week filed a lawsuit accusing the current city council of illegally approving a land exchange. Now other former officials are speaking out against the charges. It’s the latest flare-up between city incumbents and past leaders.

A lawsuit filed Dec. 5 in New York State Supreme Court on behalf of former Commissioner of Public Works Thomas McTyge, former Commissioner of Finance Remigia Foy, and former mayor Ray Watkin, accuses the current city council of wrongdoing over a land exchange.

The exchange approved by the city council in August would sell the Collamer parking lot on Broadway for $775,000, in exchange for parcel on Union Avenue for $200,000, the site where officials hope to build a fire station.

The buyer, Algonquin Building LLC, is planning to build a mixed-use development at the Broadway location.

The suit claims the council appraised and sold the lot below its real value, and below another party’s bid of $1.1 million. The suit also argues the property is actually worth $1.6 million via a private appraisal. 

Residents have been calling for more emergency services in the eastern part of the city. Nancy Goldberg, a former chair of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals and a resident of the Eastern Plateau, said the former officials suing the city themselves failed to expand the necessary services when they were in office.

“I think their behavior is appalling. The lawsuit will cost the taxpayer more than the supposed $300,000 between the lower bid and that possible vague deal,” said Goldberg. “If they build in the Collamer lot as good a building as they built at the Northshire Bookstore, this city will have a good addition to its downtown and something on the tax record. I cannot understand.”

The suit also claims that Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen  prepared a fraudulent Request For Proposals “to exclude all qualified bidders” other than the party awarded the property. According to court documents, the RFP said that bids for the Collamer lot would only be accepted with land acquisition, and that land “must be at least 3 acres and be within a ½ mile radius of the intersection of Route 9P, Meadowbrook, and Gilbert Roads.”

In an interview with The Saratogian Mathiesen said, “Whether or not the lawsuit is successful, it will cost the city a lot of money.” He said, “It’s now a lose-lose situation and it was a win-win.”

The lawsuit marks the second time in the last few months that a former city official has spoken out against the current council. In October, former Director of Public Works Bill McTygue, brother of former Commissioner Thomas McTygue, presented a report to the media alleging administrative abuse by the current Department of Public Works in connecting with waived water-connection fees.

Bill McTygue lost the contest for Commissioner of Public Works to current Commissioner “Skip” Scirocco last year. In an earlier interview with WAMC, Bill McTygue claimed the release of the report was not for political purposes.

“I looked at what’s been going on, I felt that I had an obligation to step forward and even put my name to the claim and to the report. I thought long and hard about that because I knew there would be some question in the community about my motive.”

The matter was investigated by the state comptroller’s office, and the city council recently voted to set a public hearing for December 16th to eliminate water connection fees.

Upon news of Thomas McTygue’s involvement in the lawsuit against the city, former Mayor Valerie Keehn expressed her frustration to WAMC over the conflicts.

“As the Commissioner of Public Works for over 20 years, Tommy McTygue and his brother, Billy McTygue, as the director of Public Works, cost the city millions of dollars in lawsuits and fines, because of their negligence, arrogance, and flat-out defiance of the law. So it’s not surprising that McTygue would yet again saddle the citizens of Saratoga Springs with the cost of a self-serving lawsuit brought seemingly out of spite against the citizens of the East Side and several sitting commissioners.”

Calls to Thomas McTygue seeking comment were not immediately returned.

The attorney for the former officials suing the city, Daniel Tuczinski, could not be reached in time for broadcast, but told the Daily Gazette over the weekend, “The plaintiffs have strong ties to the community” and “They are disappointed that the City Council would authorize these transactions when there were substantial questions raised about fair market value and whether the city is making an illegal gift of city property.”

UPDATE 12/12/14:

Thomas McTygue reached out to WAMC for comment after the original publication date.

In an interview McTygue said he and the other officials are not against expanding emergency services into the eastern portion of the city. He was critical of the way the sale of the Collamer lot was handled by the city council.

"It wasn't properly done, it was done illegally, the lot was set up even before the RFP went out in reference to that lot. They were discussing this with the adjacent property owner, Mr. Aronson. The whole thing really is very unfortunate the way this thing was dealt with. And the city council, the entire city council is responsible for this happening, and it is very unfortunate," said McTygue.

TMcTygue12-12.mp3

  Update 12/13/14:

Former Public Works Director Bill McTygue also reached out to WAMC after the original article's publication. McTygue's statement reads:

"It’s truly unfortunate that former Mayor Valerie Keehn has thrown her opinion into matters she obviously knows nothing about. Instead of defending the alleged wrong-doing by a few of her political friends and former administration appointees,Valerie Keehn would be better served to with-hold her opinion until the ongoing investigations by the State Attorney General and State Comptrollers Office is completed. Rather than launching into a tirade of personal attacks against the McTygue’s long and successful tenure in City government, perhaps Valerie Keehn should spend her time defending “City taxpayers” against government fraud, collusion and corruption."

Lucas Willard is a reporter and host at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, which he joined in 2011.
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