The June 5, 2023, edition of the Times Union reported that an employee fired by Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran has filed a notice that she is suing Moran and the city. This is not the only case of an employee bringing an action against Moran.
Carrie Schermerhorn, the fired employee, had been the Assistant Assessor in Moran’s office. She alleges that she was fired after she refused to perform duties she claimed were illegal. She claims that Moran hired a firm,GAR, to perform work for the city that involved ethical conflicts at “greatly inflated rates.” She also alleges that he ordered her “to grant tax privileges for his friends.”
Usually, in cases like this involving personnel issues and litigation, elected officials decline to comment. Not so with Commissioner Moran. After telling the TU he denies Magnuson’s charges, asserting that they are “100% false,” he goes on to publicly attack her in the harshest terms.
“She has absolutely no standing on anything,” Moran said. “She is trying to grind an ax because she lost her job. This woman was horrible at her job. … Anybody can file a lawsuit.”
TU
CSEA, the union representing many employees at City Hall, has filed a grievance asserting that the hiring of GAR by the Accounts Department was for work that would normally have been assigned to city staff. This violated the union agreement.
The Ribis Case
Another employee of the Accounts Department, Lisa Ribis, has also filed a grievance against Commissioner Moran. Ms. Ribis serves as the Secretary for the City Council. In this capacity, she takes the minutes at Council meetings. As the readers of this blog know, the Council meetings are often marathon events these days under the current Mayor, lasting late into the evening.
Ms. Ribis has always received compensation for this work. For some reason, Moran and his Deputy, Stacy Connors, decided they would no longer remunerate her for this work. As Ms. Ribis’ husband has been a vocal critic at recent Council meetings, there is some conjecture that this might have contributed to denying her compensation.
The New York State Employees Relations Board ruled against Moran and Connors, asserting they must allow Ribis compensatory time for her evenings recording city meetings.
Moran told the Times Union that the conflict with Ribis predated him. Ms. Ribis told the TU that this was false and that she did not file her claim until 2022.
A Toxic Environment
The regional president for the Civil Service Employees Association, of which Ribis is a member, has written to Mayor Kim alleging a toxic work environment in City Hall.
Given Moran’s angry outbursts at Council meetings, one can only imagine what it is like to work for him.
Where Is The Human Resources Department? (HR)
One has to wonder what role, if any, HR has had in all of this. Unfortunately, HR reports to Mayor Kim. In a better world, the Council would insist that HR come before them to get their assessment of the environment in City Hall and what can be done to address it. In their defense, HR is in a vulnerable and untenable situation, as reflected in the recently revealed emails and videos of Mayor Kim. Worse, there is no one on the Council willing to be an advocate for our city employees.
Saratoga Springs Politics 
It is ridiculous that clerk jobs at City Hall are Unionized. Same for Albany State government.
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I have no idea how that would be your takeaway from this post. In my experience, the unionized employees at City Hall largely do a great job no matter their title, and the union protects them from being forced to do work outside the scope of their job at the whim of a part-time elected official. We’ve also seen union members fired, showing that membership isn’t a “get out of jail free” card.
In moments when City Hall is dysfunctional, the last thing you want is council members being able to fire employees because they won’t do something to benefit their electoral chances (or damage a perceived enemy), to say nothing for the fact that union membership helps City Hall recruit and retain talented employees. Would you want to take a job where you might have a new boss every two years?
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For those of you that think that City Hall has become a circus and needs new leadership and professionalism……..please vote for Dr. Chris Mathiesen for Mayor.
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Unions aren’t the problem. They’re the answer.
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