Tie vote for spot

Council split on president

COHOES, N.Y. » On Tuesday night, the Common Council could not agree on who to elect as this year’s council president and vice president.

Each year, the council holds an organizational meeting at the beginning of the year to elect a council president and vice president. For the past two years, the six body all Democratic council elected 3rd Ward councilman Christopher Briggs to serve as its president along with 1st Ward councilman Bill Smith to serve as its vice president.

However, this year, 5th Ward Councilman Steve Napier Jr. threw his name in the running to serve as council president along with 4th Ward councilman William McCarthy running to serve as the council’s vice president for 2018.

6th Ward Councilman Randy Koniowka, McCarthy and Napier each voted for Napier to become this year’s council president because they felt that change was needed in leadership after two years.

“The council has not been allowed to function. We have had two committee meetings in two years. No budget meetings last year. Everything is rushed through. Nobody knows what is going on. Therefore, I voted for Councilman Napier,” said Koniowka.

“I just think it’s time for change,” added McCarthy. “Chris [Briggs] and I are great friends, [ but] I just think it’s time for a little bit of change.”

Napier said that he wanted to run for council president this year because he also believes that change is sometimes necessary in any legislative body. Napier said he believes that as council president, he could make the whole council become even more effective.

“It’s my opinion that periodic turnover in a legislative body gives fresh perspective and is healthy for the city,” ex- plained Napier. “It isn’t necessarily a reflection of thinking someone else is doing the job poorly, but that I think that I have something to offer as well, which might be different than what the current leadership offers. The Common Council, like most organizations, is a body that could function more effectively and as president I think that I could identify steps that others might not to help us to be a more effective council.”

Briggs — who voted for himself — also received votes to continue to serve as council president from 2nd Ward Councilman Don Russell along with Smith.

“Chris has done a good job communicating and getting things done when asked upon,” said Russell, “so I continue to support him.”

“My vote was in favor of Chris Briggs for president of the Cohoes Common Council. I would like to say however, I personally have nothing against Mr. Napier,” added Smith. “I find him to be a fine gentleman from the two years we have served together on the Council. I have worked with Chris for close to 10 years, several on the Cohoes School Board and the last two as president and vice president of the Common Council. I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Briggs as he brings great insight, passion, respect and character to the role of President. I believe in not only sharing the same vision of where Cohoes can go and is going, but mainly being able to help the people of our community.”

Briggs said that he believes he has done a good job serving as the council’s president, and believes that he has the right background and experience to continue to do the job well.

“It’s my belief that spending 14 years on the school board, past president two times, along with my background in finance and running a broker dealer gives me some insight into many different avenues and I’m really continuing to seek the position because it’s my desire to serve my community,” said Briggs.

Mayor Shawn Morse, who does not have a vote in any council matters or council resolutions, said that since it was a tie vote for both council president and vice president, that the city’s Corporation Counsel Brian Kremer’s legal opinion concerning the split vote is that Briggs and Smith would each continue to serve their respective roles of council president and vice president until the council can agree with a majority vote on someone.

However, Napier said he is exploring other legal opinions on the split vote situation since there is no precedent or wording in the City’s Charter related to a split vote for a council president.

“At present the vote is tied with 3 for me and 3 for Mr. Briggs. I have tremendous respects for Chris, I just think that I also could be an effective leader in a different way than Chris is,” said Na- pier, “so I am exploring the options available to remedy the tied vote.”

Morse said he hopes that the council can soon come to an agreement, so that the city can continue to move in the right direction.

“I just hope that [the council] recognizes that the most important thing is the operations of the city and that the politics of who’s in charge doesn’t get in the way

of this administration trying to move the city in its best direction and I’m confident that they’ll work this out and they’ll do what’s best for Cohoes and the citizens and put the politics aside,” said Morse.

“We got some stuff to work out as a council, but I’m sure we’ll work it out and we’ll have a [council] president before you know it,” added McCarthy.