Proposed charter lacks long-term vision

Citizens of Saratoga Springs are again offered charter changes on the Nov. 6 ballot. The close vote in 2017 made clear that the citizens of the city care about our government and we should be proud of that.

I am a long-time resident of the city and have served on two of our charter commissions. I am particularly concerned about the current charter proposal because, unlike every other charter commission, the commission members were limited to elected city officials and appointed city employees only.

I oppose the proposed changes because they do not address a long-term vision for our city that a charter commission needs to have. The purported “update” would actually impose major changes that weaken the chief executive of our city. These changes would overturn the improvements put in place by the successful charter change in 2001, which were approved 70 percent of the city voters and