Charter committee not following the law
The Saratoga Springs Charter Review Committee unfortunately has an ongoing problem following the requirements of the Open Meetings Law. It is a bit disingenuous therefore for Charter Committee chair Professor Robert Turner to write in a recent Saratogian Reader’s View that “…the Committee is doing its very best to be as transparent and open as possible.”
Agendas, meeting notices, and minutes have frequently failed to be posted in a timely manner as required by law. Meetings are not always live streamed as promised and videos of the meetings are often posted long after they have occurred. The video of the meeting for Feb. 6 has yet to appear on the City’s website for instance. The Oct. 18, 2016, video of the only public forum the committee has held has never been posted. Chairman Turner has repeatedly stated in the press that documents are available on their website which cannot be found.
We understand that “stuff happens” and that the committee members are volunteers with many demands on their time. Committee members, however, have chosen to take on the very important task of writing a potential new charter for the city and being a volunteer group does not give them a pass from following the Open Meetings Law.
Most important, perhaps, is their failure to post the documents that they are using. Drafts of the charter they are creating have been handed out at meetings but those in the audience have been instructed to return their copies at the end of the meeting. This is not only a violation of the law but is very much at odds with the committee’s stated desire to be open and transparent. Why all the secrecy?
We urge the committee to take the following steps to meet their stated objective of “being as open and transparent.”
• Post the drafts of the charter proposal as required by law on the city website clearly labeled, of course, as a draft and invite community comment. Voters deserve to know what this critical committee is actually deciding and the basis of their decisions.
• Commit to holding future meetings of the committee in the city council chambers where members can be heard, the meeting can be live streamed, and videos of the meeting can be posted more quickly.
The assistant city attorney and many others have continually brought the committee’s communication failures to their attention, yet non-compliance with the Open Meetings Law continues. While we differ with the committee on what form of government would best serve Saratoga Springs in the future, I believe we can agree that rules should be followed, the committee’s work should be transparent, and voters should be informed. — Remigia Foy Saratoga Springs The author is chair of SUCCESS, a non-partisan Saratoga Springs citizen’s organization that supports the commission form of government in Saratoga Springs.