Charter support sparks criticism
Referendum opponents question local voter group’s endorsement
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Critics of the proposed Saratoga Springs City Charter are questioning a non-partisan voter group’s decision to endorse the plan being put before voters in November.
At its first meeting of this month, the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County announced its support for the charter referendum, which would change Saratoga Springs’ commission form of government to a city manager-council form. The League does not endorse individuals seeking public office but has taken positions on issues in the past.
“I am very upset with what the League has done by endorsing this proposal. They have not studied the new proposal that will be on the ballot,” said Karen Klotz, a member of Saratogians United to Continue the Charter Essential for Saratoga’s Success, a group opposing the charter referendum. “What they have studied is a general proposal for a separation of powers administrative and executive. That’s fine, but that’s not what we are voting on in Saratoga Springs this November. What we are voting on is a city manager form of government.”
The League began a study of local governments in Saratoga County in May 2015. In April 2017 the board members reached a consensus on a position on the importance to have a clear separation of powers in city and county government.
The Charter Review Commission, meanwhile, adopted a proposed charter this year, which is on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.
During summer, the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County doesn’t meet, but the proposed charter was sent to the board members a few weeks before the organization’s first meeting in September.
In the first meeting, the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County voted 11-0 to support the proposed charter.
“Our board members are familiar with the history of the charter, where it’s been and not been. We provided that to them, and we spent a good period of our board meeting discussing it, asking and answering questions so that people felt confident in their vote,” said Pattie Garrett, one of three members of the League’s Presidential Steering Committee. “I’m confident that our board of directors had the charter in front of them and had time to review it, and during our discussion had their questions answered.”
Barbara Thomas serves as a member of the League’s Presidential Steering Committee. Thomas also has a seat on the 15-member Charter Review Commission.
“I don’t think it’s a conflict. I would’ve chosen to recuse myself if I thought it was a conflict, but since there is no conflict in the position, the position of mine that I’ve had held for a long, long time,” Thomas said. “I didn’t see it as a conflict.”
Four members of the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County who don’t live in Saratoga Springs recused themselves from voting because they saw the issue as a city one.
Bob Turner, chair of the Charter Review Commission, said the commission is “thrilled to have as a respected institution of local good government endorsing the charter.”
“My understanding is that the League Women of Voters have been a long standing support of charter reform in Saratoga Springs for many years,” Turner said. “Barb Thomas is a person of credible, high ethical standards.”
Klotz questioned why the League of Women Voters didn’t spend more time analyzing the specific charter being proposed. “This is not the way The League of Women Voters operates,” said Klotz, who served as president of LWVSC in the 1970s. “The League of Women Voters studies an issue forever and ever and they look at all sides of the issue and then they come to a consensus of their members, so what they’ve done is take a general statement that they agreed on that their should be separation of powers and they are transferring it to this specific proposal that will be on the ballot this November.”
The League of Women Voters of Saratoga County released a statement Tuesday. “We believe that it is important to separate the legislative functions of government from the administrative ones, to have a strong centralized administration, to have clear lines of responsibility, to be representative of the entire community, to be efficient and cost-effective. LWVSC determined that the current charter doesn’t meet those goals. LWVSC supports the proposed new charter, which creates a council-manager form of government, because it will provide for the separation of powers.”
“Our board looked at what [the Charter Review Commission] were proposing and looked at it against our position and felt that we could say we support their proposal,” said Francine Rodger, a member of the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County.
The LWVSC position on local government can be found here at www. lwvsaratoga.org.
SUCCESS believes LWVSC didn’t do analyze the charter enough.
“We are disappointed that the League has failed to follow their usual rigorous procedure of research and discussion before deciding to endorse this complicated charter,” said Jane Weihe, a SUCCESS member. “Regardless of how one feels about the city manager form there are many other controversial aspects of this charter proposal that bare close scrutiny by both the public and the League.”