In an interesting wrinkle to the ongoing, impassioned debate over whether or not to build an indoor recreation center -- and where to build it, it has come to light that a city employee used a city email list in an attempt to drum up support for the pro-construction side of the debate. This was previously reported in The Saratogian.

It was not previously reported that the use of a city-controlled email list (set up to contact youth soccer coaches) constitutes a potential violation of the city's ethics code.

At least one citizen who received the email -- which encouraged coaches to bring children to Tuesday's meeting in a show of solidarity -- wrote to the mayor to voice his concerns. Mayor Johnson responded with a memorandum directed to the employee responsible for the original email (this was not Ric Dahlstrom, as previously reported, although he did use a personal email account to forward the original message).

Johnson's memorandum is pointed in its interpretation of this action: "I want to emphasize in the strongest possible terms that the City's Code of Ethics places limitations on the use of City property... While City employees enjoy the same rights as everyone else to express their personal opinions about public projects, the use of City property and City time to express and communicate those opinions must be regarded as improper and must not be repeated," he writes.

While no formal ethics complaint had been filed with the city's Board of Ethics as of Tuesday, Michael Arnush, a member of that body, said that any city resident can bring concerns to the board at any time.

Johnson did say on Wednesday that he thought the email had originally been sent only to members of the Recreation Commission, and that it had been distributed from there, perhaps inadvertently.

As for the original email's urging to "Please contact your constituents and have them attend this meeting. It will be even more helpful to bring a bunch of kids to pack the City Council Chamber as well," Johnson had this to say: "I don't think having children there is particularly relevant. It's more for effect than anything else. I expect that many of these adults have children, and stating that they have children has as much effect as bringing them along."

At past meetings, both sides of this debate have brought children along. In both cases, the children look like they would rather be just about anywhere else, and who can blame them. Improper or not, it's clear that the Recreation Department's email was effective. Most of the children present at Tuesday's meeting appeared to be on the pro-construction side of the debate, or at least, the appeared to belong to adults who were on that side of the debate.