Attorneys hired to watch ballots
Spa City council names firm to watch absentee count
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » A day before absentee ballots are counted to determine the future of the Spa City’s government, the city council Monday decided to hire an attorney to observe the count.
With only three of the five city commissioners present -- Mayor Joanne Yepsen and and Public Safety Commissioner Christian Mathesien were absent -- the council hired the Glens Falls law firm of FitzGerald Morris Baker and Firth at a cost of up to $5,000 to oversee the ballot count at the Saratoga County Board of Elections. Inspectors are expected to begin counting absentee ballots Tuesday.
The heart of the issue is the results of the Nov. 7 general election. A proposal to change the Saratoga Springs city charter was leading by only four dozen votes, but with 560 absentee ballots left to count, that result could change. Yepsen and Mathiesen support changing the city government, while the three commissioners present at Monday’s meeting -- Accounts Commissioner John Franck, Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan and Public Works Commissioner Anthony C. “Skip” Scirocco -- are opposed to the change.
A handful of residents voiced their frustration with using taxpayer money for attorneys during Monday’s special council meeting, but Franck explained the job of the election attorney.
“Their job is to observe and report back to the city council. They’re not even to talk to these people on either side. It’s to get the votes counted, and that’s why I had to use city money because I can’t use our city attorneys,” said Franck. “... I’m not trying to change votes here. I’m trying to find out what the information and
protect the city from lawsuits, and we’re allowed to do that.”
It’s Time Saratoga, a procharter change group, said it will not send an attorney to Tuesday’s ballot count but did admit it considered hiring an election attorney. However, after consulting with an election law attorney, It’s Time Saratoga found out it doesn’t have the standing to participate in the scrutiny of the absentee other papers ballots, according to a news release release.
“We plan on returning any money we have collected for legal fees and more importantly, we plan on following the law,” said It’s Time Saratoga’s Rick Fenton.
Bob Turner, chairman of the Saratoga Springs Charter Review Commission, said he trusts the Saratoga County Board of Elections to do its job.
“It is a bipartisan institution that is mandated by law and their oath to conduct the elections according to law,” said Turner. “I do not understand why the three city councilors don’t trust the Board of Election to handle the counting of absentee ballots.”
Yepsen, who did not seek re-election this year, took issue with what she called “the inappropriate way the meeting was scheduled.”
“Unfortunately, our current charter allows for three council members to call a meeting without any notification to the full council. In the rare case that a special meeting is called, the normal protocol has been to reach out to the full council to ensure availability,” Yepsen said. “Commissioner Franck, Commissioner Madigan and Commissioner Scirocco, the three Commissioners who have been very vocal against the new charter proposal ... chose not to include the mayor or the public safety commissioner in the scheduling process, both of us who are in favor of charter change I only found out about the meeting by a member of the press. This is not how our city has done or should do business; this is not serving the whole constituency.”
Madigan and Franck responded to the mayor’s statement, noting an e-mail with “Special Council Meeting Monday November 13” was sent to the mayor’s executive assistant last Thursday afternoon.
“The notion that Mayor Yepsen and Commissioner Mathiesen, or their staff, weren’t adequately alerted to this meeting or that the process differs drastically from prior special city council Meetings is factually incorrect, and shows either the blatant misinterpretation of actual events, or a failure to appropriately track city council-related communications,” Madigan said.
Madigan also took aim at a meeting that took place Friday with the mayor, Mathiesen, current deputy mayor and Mayor-elect Meg Kelly, and the city’s two attorneys, Vince Deleonardis and Tony Izzo and the state board of elections. Madigan said she, Franck and Scirocco didn’t know about that gathering until the mayor released a statement Monday.
“This would have been useful information for a broader discussion with city council members,” Madigan said.
Yepsen said the meeting took place to review election law, saying the state board of elections representative, Brian Quail, expressed concerns over the council hiring an attorney to oversee the absentee count.