I attended the April 4, 2023, meeting of the Saratoga Springs City Council. I was continuing my campaign to secure a response as to why the city's website lacked video and minutes of the March 8, 2023, meeting of the Design Review Board. At the meeting, Commissioner Minita Sanghvi advised me that she had sent me an email the day before regarding the matter. In fact, she had emailed me the evening before, which I admit to having missed.
According to her email, the planning staff person responsible for seeing that the meeting was recorded had retired, and the new person forgot to record the meeting. These individuals work under Mayor Kim, and apparently, Ms. Sanghvi allowed his office to take weeks to supply that answer.
At the meeting, Commissioner Sanghvi was unapologetic. She dismissed that it took two and a half weeks to get a simple answer out of the Mayor's office by observing that "things take time." She appeared unphased that the city had violated the New York State Open Meetings Law. It should be noted that if she had acted expeditiously when notified about the missing records by insisting that the planning department post the meeting minutes, she would have avoided violating the NY State Open Meetings Law. Even today (April 5), the minutes are still not posted on the city's website.
Sanghvi's Email
Mr. Kaufman,
We have understood now that because of a retirement in the planning staff, there were human errors in the recording. The person who usually recorded the meetings retired. Someone else was supposed to press record and forgot to do it until 15 minutes into the meeting. They have let us know that they have hired a new person and that the management of the webcast will be the new hire's responsibility. The planning department have assured us that they will provide detailed minutes for the agenda items that were not recorded.
IT has been working with the Mayor's office to figure this out and will continue to help all departments to ensure their meetings are posted on our website.
Have a blessed day!
Commissioner Sanghvi
