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Rec Center vote
As noted in today's print edition, the City Council will be called to vote on awarding a contract for the construction of the indoor recreation center at tomorrow's meeting. Once awarded, construction on the project could go forward without further votes from the council.
In light of that, I wanted to offer my thoughts on how the vote could go. It seems unlikely that Johnson would call for a vote without some confidence that he had the three votes needed to award a contract, but by my estimation, he may not.
We know that Commissioner of Public Safety Ron Kim and Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco will vote against the project, as both have cited numerous concerns relating to the project, and voted against it at every opportunity. Kim alleges that the approval process was improper, while also saying that he feels it is an improper expense in a time that requires fiscal constraint. Scirocco has cited concerns over increased traffic in the neighborhood and problems with drainage.
We know that Mayor Scott Johnson will vote for the project, as he has adopted this project as his own, and has fought for, shepherding it through several close votes before the council.
I don't feel comfortable saying with certainty that Commissioner of Finance Kenneth Ivins Jr. will vote for the project, but it seems that he probably will. He has always voted to advance the project, and although he has expressed misgivings about some elements of the projects, he has expressed even greater misgivings over wasting about $500,000 in tax payer money, which is the figure he cites as the city's total expenditure if the project were halted and abandoned at this stage.
That leaves us with Commission of Accounts John Franck. Franck has voted in favor of advancing the project thus far. BUT, in a Jan. 8 interview with this reporter, Franck said that he would not feel comfortable awarding a contract with an ongoing law suit. Has Franck had a change of heart? We will have to see tomorrow.
As far as the lawsuit goes, the city faced a suit naming three causes of action. Ann Bullock, of the Friends of the South Side Park, the group bringing the suit told me today that the city only responded to one of the causes of actions.
She did not want to discuss details because the case is still being adjudicated, but she was confident that the court would not throw the case out -- as the city had requested -- especially in light of the city's failure to answer three of the causes of action.
So, the bottom line in all of this is that tomorrow's meeting should be very interesting.
One final note, the City Council did not hold their traditional agenda meeting this morning, because of President's Day. The meeting will be held tomorrow, at which time Johnson could pull this item, in which case all of my typing is for naught.
In light of that, I wanted to offer my thoughts on how the vote could go. It seems unlikely that Johnson would call for a vote without some confidence that he had the three votes needed to award a contract, but by my estimation, he may not.
We know that Commissioner of Public Safety Ron Kim and Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco will vote against the project, as both have cited numerous concerns relating to the project, and voted against it at every opportunity. Kim alleges that the approval process was improper, while also saying that he feels it is an improper expense in a time that requires fiscal constraint. Scirocco has cited concerns over increased traffic in the neighborhood and problems with drainage.
We know that Mayor Scott Johnson will vote for the project, as he has adopted this project as his own, and has fought for, shepherding it through several close votes before the council.
I don't feel comfortable saying with certainty that Commissioner of Finance Kenneth Ivins Jr. will vote for the project, but it seems that he probably will. He has always voted to advance the project, and although he has expressed misgivings about some elements of the projects, he has expressed even greater misgivings over wasting about $500,000 in tax payer money, which is the figure he cites as the city's total expenditure if the project were halted and abandoned at this stage.
That leaves us with Commission of Accounts John Franck. Franck has voted in favor of advancing the project thus far. BUT, in a Jan. 8 interview with this reporter, Franck said that he would not feel comfortable awarding a contract with an ongoing law suit. Has Franck had a change of heart? We will have to see tomorrow.
As far as the lawsuit goes, the city faced a suit naming three causes of action. Ann Bullock, of the Friends of the South Side Park, the group bringing the suit told me today that the city only responded to one of the causes of actions.
She did not want to discuss details because the case is still being adjudicated, but she was confident that the court would not throw the case out -- as the city had requested -- especially in light of the city's failure to answer three of the causes of action.
So, the bottom line in all of this is that tomorrow's meeting should be very interesting.
One final note, the City Council did not hold their traditional agenda meeting this morning, because of President's Day. The meeting will be held tomorrow, at which time Johnson could pull this item, in which case all of my typing is for naught.
posted by The Saratogian City Desk at
4:52 PM
3 Comments:
It looks like Scott Johnson is copying Tommy McTygue's approach to public projects. He ignores dissent. Doesn't worry about obeying the law. Provokes expensive lawsuits. Acts like his opinion is the only one that matters.
Remember Tommy McTygue? He used to be on the City Council, but he's out of office now.
Well, yet another showdown for the now infamous rec center. I urge Saratogians to come to the City Council meeting tonight (7:00 PM at City Hall) to watch your city government in action. Here's where things now stand:
1) If the project goes forward we all lose a park near the center of town.
2) Friends of South SIde Park have a lawsuit in progress (since 12/08) that challenges the mayor's handling of this entire matter.
3) The mayor is pushing forward TONIGHT to select a builder, before the courts can weigh in on this lawsuit -why won't the mayor, Scott Johnson, wait to see how the court resolves this matter?
4) Can you, as a local taxpayer, afford this $6.5 million rec center, plus the cost of its maintenance and litigation, in this uncertain economy?
Come out tonight - listen and speak your mind - your city and pocketbook deserve no less.
good job andrew, way to press them on that $500,000. they have been saying all along that $1million dollars was too much to waste. half of that figure is for design which wouldn't be wasted if the city decided to put this on hold until a better economic time.
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