Author: Thomas Dimopoulos

SARATOGA SPRINGS — This week, the City Council began floating potential options about how they would go about hiring an interim member to fill a vacant governing seat. With elected officials currently holding nearly half the top seats in city government that could be vacated by January, it is a process the remaining members of the council might have to revisit in short order. 

The Saratoga Springs City Council is comprised of five members – the mayor and four commissioners, and two supervisors are additionally elected to represent the city of Saratoga Springs at the county level. Those seven seats are each up for vote every two years, next in November 2025. 

This week, DPW Commissioner Jason Golub announced he will be stepping off the City Council next month to accept a position with the State as General Counsel for the Department of Corrections. 

“It’s a really challenging role that I’m super excited for, but I will obviously miss the work that we’re doing here,” Golub said July 16 during a City Council meeting attended by about 20 people who had made their way inside City Hall shortly after a major summer storm blew through the region.  

“The people who work for DPW are amazing and have really made this job for me something special,” said Golub, adding that his new employment begins Aug. 19. “I will greatly miss the DPW employees, and they should get all the credit for everything we’ve done in Public Works the past few years.”   

In 2022, Golub, a Democrat, became the first black person to serve on the Saratoga Springs City Council. He was initially selected to the seat by unanimous City Council approval shortly following the April 2022 death of longtime Commissioner of Public Works Anthony “Skip” Scirocco. That November, Golub secured victory in an election specifically held for that seat to fill the remainder of the term – through the calendar year 2023. Golub was re-elected during normal council elections in November 2023 to serve through December 2025. 

The Public Works Department is responsible for the repair, replacement, and maintenance of all of the public ways, streets and highways in Saratoga Springs. 

In addition to leading their own respective departments, the five sitting City Council members – one mayor and four commissioners – each have one equal vote to decide city matters under the city’s Commission Form of Government. The seats are all up for vote every two years, next in November 2025 for a position that begins January 2026.  

It is unclear whether approval of an interim DPW Commissioner by the four remaining council members this year would extend for the duration of the term, which is slated through December 2025.  

City Charter states: In case of a vacancy caused by other than expiration of term, the Council shall appoint a person to fill such vacancy until the end of the official year in which said vacancy occurs. If the term of office of the officer vacating the office continues beyond the official year in which said vacancy occurs, a person shall be elected at a special election held after the occurrence of such vacancy to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term.

In addition to Golub’s announced departure, two other Democrats – Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi and city Supervisor Michele Madigan – have announced their candidacy for new positions to be decided in elections held in November.   

Sanghvi is running against Republican incumbent James Tedisco to represent the 44th Senate District; Madigan is seeking to become Saratoga County Treasurer, a position which Republican Committee endorsed JoAnn Kupferman currently is seated as Acting County Treasurer. 

Should either City Council member Sanghvi or City Supervisor Madigan emerge victorious in their respective election bids, their new terms would not begin until calendar year 2025. As such, it is anticipated members of the Saratoga Springs City Council would vote to fill those potential vacancies on an interim basis for the duration of the term ending December 2025 with no “special” election necessary.  

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Colors were presented, and anthems sung. Words of prayer were spoken, and local political leaders sat to join about 100 other attendees in the hot summer sun to celebrate the city’s unveiling of its long-awaited opening of Fire Station no. 3 this week. 

“It’s been over 20 years in the making – and some would argue it’s been over 30,” former Chief Joseph Dolan noted on an August afternoon in 2022 when the ceremonial shovels first broke ground on Henning Road. On July 9, 2024, the new fire station was officially declared open for business. 

Aaron Dyer, current Acting Chief of the Saratoga Springs Fire Department, watched as nine of his firefighters physically muscled a 38,000-pound engine truck back in to its bay. The activity is a practice that dates back to the early 19th century days of the then-Village of Saratoga Springs, when a group of local volunteers first got organized with a mission of fighting fires. 

“It’s a tradition that dates back to when fire equipment was pulled around by horse-drawn carriages,” Dyer explained. “When firefighters returned from service, they would unhook the horses and then have to manually push that fire carriage or trailer back into the fire station to get it prepared for the next call for service,” he said. 

The city’s two other existing stations were both built in the 20th century and are located, respectively, on Lake Avenue in the downtown district, and on West Avenue on the city’s west side. 

The location of Station 3, which stands directly behind Saratoga Race Course, provides rapid access to the north-and-south running Northway, the east-west running state Route 29, and will dramatically improve the response times to the city’s eastern ridge. 

The city of Saratoga Springs is comprised of approximately 29 total square miles, with about 13,400 housing units and a population of just under 29,000, according to the Department of Public Safety’s annual report released in March 2024.  In 2023, the Saratoga Springs Fire Department responded to 6,990 calls for service – a 9.2% increase compared to 2022.

The $8.7 million Station 3 stands on land donated by NYRA and includes an apparatus bay and support/administrative area with a 1,500 sq. ft. mezzanine, according to details provided by the Hueber-Breuer Construction Company. It includes a kitchen, a fitness room, a classroom and also houses the Saratoga County Hazmat vehicle.

“With this building we also have an emergency operation center which gives us the ability to oversee and handle any large incident in the city or the county if the need arises,” Dyer said. 

The station houses one engine and an ambulance staffed 24 hours a day, a reserve ladder truck as well as the county hazmat truck. Six firefighters work at the station daily. Overall, 84 firefighters work in the city’s three stations, which are open 24/7. To best provide coverage for the city, a total of 112 to 115 firefighters would be ideal, Dryer said, and the process of staffing the city’s three firehouses is ongoing. 

City Supervisor Michele Madigan served as Saratoga Springs Finance Commissioner from 2012-2021, when the city made the push to turn thoughts of an eastside station into a reality.  “It was a long time coming,” Madigan said. “We put the financing in place in 2019, and we are finally now seeing the fruition of our labor coming true.” 

Regarding the county’s commitment, City Supervisor Matt Veitch said the county pays for the supplies and service calls made that involve the hazmat team. “With a little bit of negotiation and a little bit of discussion, the county board approved $300,000 toward this project – essentially the cost of a bay for one of the vehicles which would be our hazmat vehicle,” Veitch said. 

“The individuals who are called on to do the work, to face those things that are unknown, are willing to put their lives on the line for all of us,” city Mayor John Safford said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “I think we need to keep in mind that it’s the willingness of people to do this that makes a city work.”