Survey: Revising charter supported
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The city’s Charter Review Commission’s informal surveys asking people about Saratoga Springs’ governinment showed support for making revisions to the document.
The commission sent the surveys to members of the public, selected city hall employees, previous commissioners and their deputies. The commission held a forum at the end of May, which allowed for public input, and the release of six-question surveys. The commission will have an additional public forum later this summer before a final document is voted on by the 10-member commission at the end of August.
Vince DeLeonardis, the city attorney and chair of the commission, called the citizen responses “by no means a scientific survey”
but rather a snapshot.
Fourteen filled out the survey. Questions included term lengths, term limits, staggered terms for county supervisors, if appointments, besides deputies, should be approved by City Council as a whole and if deputies should live in the city.
Eight individuals said commissioners should serve two-year terms, while six said four-year terms. There was a split on whether there should be term limits. The majority said the mayor shouldn’t be required to serve as county supervisor and that deputies should reside within the city. Nine individuals said the mayor-approved appointments, besides deputies, should be approved by City Council, while four said no. Seven said yes to staggered fouryear terms, resulting in one of the supervisors on the ballot every two years, compared to six saying no.
Open-ended questions were sent to employees in code enforcement, finance, accounts and throughout City Hall. In total, 12 responded, and DeLeonardis provided summaries of each response, which included opinions that the code enforcement should merge with the building department in public safety, which would leave the zoning in the planning department, having the human resources administrator approved by all City Council, not just the mayor, since the HR administrator serves each commissioner and establishing a parks and recreation department.
The recreation department currently falls under the mayor’s department, but there have been discussions about having the recreation department fall under the Department of Public Works because of the field maintenance.
The charter must be finalized by the first week of September in order to be on November’s ballot.
The commission has three meetings scheduled for July, and possibly adding a workshop, too. In August, a public forum will be scheduled, possibly during a City Council meeting.
The commission, created by Mayor Meg Kelly, has been tasked with making recommendations to review the city’s existing charter. The goal, Kelly said, will be to find efficiencies and organizational improvements within the current commission form of government to better serve the people of Saratoga Springs. A charter proposal will be submitted to city voters for a referendum in the November 2018 election.
Last November, a vote on a proposed charter — which would have changed the form of government from the commission form to the council-manager form — failed by 10 votes.
The current charter, under the commission form of government, has an elected mayor and four elected commissioners who serve as members of the city council and supervisors of specific departments. Last year’s proposed charter called for a council-manager form of government, which would include a seven-member council that solely acts in a legislative capacity, and an appointed city manager who would run the day-today operations of city hall.