As the readers of this blog will have noticed, I have studiously avoided writing about issues that were not local in nature. The focus of this blog has always been on how to make Saratoga Springs a better place. This is something that, in general, has brought together people from all political parties and from a broad spectrum from the left to the right.
I have worked hard and have successfully built a large readership during the last seven years. I know that addressing the events in Israel and Gaza will probably alienate many of the readers of this blog, but I feel impelled to respond to the current crisis.
I am a Jew. I grew up in a non-religious household that nevertheless identified deeply with the Jewish people.
The Holocaust was very much a part of my childhood. I had two cousins that were fraternal twins who endured and survived the experiments of the Nazi Doctor Joseph Mengele. One of my earliest memories (I was probably only three) was being in a large terminal in New York City to greet them when they disembarked from a ship.
My parents were people with the highest ethical standards and the greatest compassion. They supported the civil rights movement. Early on, as patriotic Americans, they supported the war in Vietnam, but they became disillusioned with that ill-fated war and eventually joined those who called for peace.
They would have, were they alive, shared my horror at the events of October 7, 2023, at the deaths of innocent Jewish civilians perpetrated by Hamas. They abhorred violence.
Having said that, they would also share my horror at the assault on Gaza. The images of Gazans attempting to dig out the bodies of children with their bare hands killed by Israeli bombs would have shaken them as they have me.
They would have been appalled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the Israeli people asking them to remember the Amalek. For those of you not familiar with this reference from the Hebrew scriptures, Yahweh (our God) directed the Jewish people to annihilate Amalek and his people.
“From man unto woman, from infant unto suckling, from ox unto sheep, so that the name of Amalek not be mentioned even with reference to an animal by saying ‘This animal belonged to Amalek’.”.
When you consider that 47.3% of the population of Gaza are children, this is a particularly hideous allusion.
The killing of non-combatants and the denial of food and water to the people of Gaza is a form of collective punishment in violation of international law.
The belief that this kind of horrific violence against unarmed Palestinians will bring about some resolution to the conflict that is at the root of this war is madness.
Most people are unaware that Netanyahu is responsible for creating Hamas in an ill-fated strategy to weaken Yassir Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. October 7 demonstrated the folly of that delusional stratagem.
What do Netanyahu and his government plan to do with the 2.1 million Palestinians living in Gaza? Will his government somehow drive all these people into the Egyptian desert? Will the Israeli Defense Force occupy Gaza indefinitely? It is hard to understand where all this will lead.
Like so many other military misadventures, this will not end well. It didn’t end well for the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan in spite of massive expenditures and many soldiers’ and civilians’ lives.
I originally studied to be a historian. My reading of history is that this will not end well, not for the Palestinians and not for the Israelis.
As election day nears, Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim and his supporters have doubled down on their false narrative that somehow Travelers Insurance dropped the city’s liability coverage “because of legal exposure from investigations into the previous administration.” This is demonstrably not true, as is proven by the letter Travelers sent to the city on September 14 that clearly stated, “The City of Saratoga Springs’ approach to risk and safety management creates an unacceptable increase in the hazards contemplated for the city. Therefore, we are nonrenewing your policy effective 1/1/24.” Ron Kim is responsible for dismantling the city’s long-respected Risk and Safety program.
Nevertheless, Kim continues to repeat this falsehood in the mailers he is sending to voters, and this is now being amplified on social media by the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee and other Kim supporters.
This is from the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee Website
Under the ironic headline of “Let’s Set the Record Straight,” this Facebook post does the opposite, once again repeating Kim’s lie that the city is “…changing liability insurers because of legal exposure from investigations into the previous administration.”
Aside from the clear evidence in the Traveler’s letter that this had nothing to do with the policy’s cancellation, it is also worth noting that the city’s insurance policy did not even cover the legal costs of the officials who have been targeted in an investigation by the Attorney General. It is strange that Kim is now bizarrely trying to tie Travelers to these legal fees as he has routinely waved a paper around at Council meetings complaining about what the city is having to pay for these legal costs. So, these legal costs were not borne by Travelers and could, therefore, have had no direct impact on their decision.
Also, in this post (which is a repeat of a mailer Kim recently sent out), Harry Bucciferro boldly makes the obviously false claim that, as regards the city’s insurance, “…Ron Kim has put the city in a good position for 2024…”
Given that Travelers Insurance refuses to continue to underwrite the city and the cost of replacing Travelers is expected to cost north of $800,000.00 more a year, this does not appear to be a great position for Saratoga Springs to be in. Not to mention that Kim has no plan to address the concerns of a lack of an adequate Risk and Safety program that was the cause of losing Travelers Insurance coverage in the first place.
Bucciferro also praises Kim for “…having started the process months ago for coverage with municipal insurers in New York while still talking with local insurance brokers.”
Well, it is November, and Kim has yet to announce who the new carrier will be, what kind of coverage they will offer, and at what cost. According to the city’s proposed budget, it is expected that our insurance rate is going to skyrocket. Kim did not even tell the city they had to find a new carrier until the information was leaked only a couple of weeks ago; so much for transparency.
Finally, the post proclaims that “There will be no gap in insurance,” as though anyone has claimed this. The issue is not whether the city will be able to get insurance. The issue is how much it will cost.
Former Dem City Chair and Kim Fan Sarah Burger Amplifies the Disinformation
Below is a screenshot from Sarah Burger’s Facebook page.
Ms. Burger, a past chair of the city’s Democratic Committee and Kim supporter, repeated the Kim post on her Facebook page.
Ms. Burger continues the useless observation that the city will have insurance. Ms. Burger is fully aware that the issue is not whether the city will be insured but what it will cost.
Will the Disinformation Campaign Work?
In spite of the best efforts of Kim and his supporters, Kim cannot get away from the brutal truth that the chaos he created with the city’s Risk and Safety program will cost millions of dollars in additional premiums and deductibles, along with a downgrading of our bond rating.
[JK: I received this article from a reader of this blog drilling down on the origins of the city’s Risk and Safety program that Kim has dismantled.]
2002 Just Called, and They Want Their Risk and Safety Back! Mayor Kim is Moving Saratoga Backwards- all the way to 2002.
New Insurance Lies with the Unlikely Support of Yet Another Campaign Donor.
Mayor Kim’s new Facebook Ad has Harry Bucciferro claiming that “Mayor Kim has put the City in a good position for 2024.”
Ron Kim writes, “There will be no gap in insurance.”
How did the City of Saratoga Springs come up with such a strong Risk and Safety program before Ron Kim single-handedly dismantled it, leaving the city no choice but to find a new insurer?
None other than Harry Bucciferro, who was the City’s Insurance consultant and pioneer of the plan for a dedicated Risk and Safety Manager over two decades ago. Follow along starting with details from the October 12, 2002 City Council Meeting. That’s right, 2002!
City Receives Notice of Non-Renewal from Insurance Carrier
In 2002, Commissioner of Accounts Stephen Towne reported the City received a notice of non-renewal from its insurance carrier. He stated, “The City had not developed serious consideration of the need for a strong risk and safety management program.”That sounds eerily familiar to my 2023 ears. It is further stated in the minutes that it was evident when the city received very few responses to the insurance proposals sought. He surmised that the appointed safety officer, whose duties were combined with his regular job, was obviously not working.
The minutes noted that the City’s insurance costs increased 100% to a combined total of more than 1 million dollars. Towne said, “This was too large a figure for the City Council not to take action.” In what must seem like a foreign concept to the current City Council, instead of just accepting the fate of indefinitely putting this burden on taxpayers, Commissioner Towne decided to take action. Here is what he did over two decades ago. Write that down, Ron Kim. It’s going to be on the test!
Risk Management Advisory Committee- with Harry Bucciferro, The City’s Insurance Consultant
Towne created this committee, which he asserted was “a group of highly qualified and respected individuals from the community” to review and make recommendations to the City Council. Due to the incompetence of this current City Council, it’s hard to remember a time when the City Council sought to save money instead of spending taxpayer money through endless resolutions. Did I miss a resolution that was passed to plant a money tree grove, or is the excessive fund balance the tree that keeps on giving?
Harry Bucciferro Makes Recommendations
After the city’s insurer conducted an evaluation, Mr. Bucciferro said, “The Risk Management Advisory Committee feels strongly that the City Council must take the initiative to establish a Safe City Program that will provide overall management direction and initiative to each City Department.” Recommendation #2 is arguably the most successful component in creating the strong Risk and Safety Program the City was known for and which fostered excellent relationships with City insurers, spurring faith in the City’s commitment to Risk and Safety, resulting in excellent insurance rates the City enjoyed until Ron Kim unleashed a wrecking ball to annihilate the program.
The following are from Mr. Bucciferro as part of the minutes of the October 2002 meeting minutes.
Recommendation #1:
The City Council should adopt a revised safety policy statement that reflects a strong commitment to a Safe City Program.
Recommendation #2:
The City Council authorizes the following positions to implement the Safety Policy and the Safe City Program: City Risk Manager & Human Resources Administrator. He noted that the Charter already provides for the institution of a Human Resources Director, however, the committee felt strongly that there needs to be a Risk Manager to conduct inspections, investigate claims, and report to the Council.
After reviewing the audit by the insurance company and discussing it, the committee recommended creating the position of Risk Manager. The Risk and Safety Manager saved the City sums that could have paid the salary for this position many times over. Bucciferro even chimes in at a later City Council meeting about the money saved as a result of the City Council approving the recommendation to hire a Risk and Safety Manager. This only leaves readers to speculate what hidden mutually beneficial relationship Bucciferro might have with Ron Kim that would cause Bucciferro to go against what he himself had recommended in 2002.
Bucciferro Tells Mayor Klotz there needs to be a separate Risk and Safety Manager Position
Here is where Bucciferro clearly clarifies what the City needs to do. Mayor Kenneth Klotz asked, “If it was the Committee’s recommendation to add the Risk Manager duties to the City of Saratoga Springs Human Resources Director.” Mr. Bucciferro doubles down, telling Mayor Klotz, “No, they would be two separate positions.” There you have it. This position should not be absorbed into other employees’ job duties. It did not work when attempted prior to the 2002 insurance non-renewal letter, and it didn’t work prior to the 2023 insurance non-renewal letter resulting from Ron Kim assigning the tremendous amount of duties of the Risk and Safety Manager to Michael Phillips, the Assistant City Attorney. We could find no evidence of Mr. Phillips’ expert experience in Risk and Safety Management. Mr. Phillips’ linkedin biography contains no reference to certifications related to the highly regulated field of risk and safety.
Bucciferro’s Risk and Safety Management Plan Reviewed 3 Years Later
The proof is in the pudding! What an astonishingly positive impact this program was already having on the City! During the April 19, 2005, City Council meeting, insurance renewal discussions prompted Commissioner Towne to comment on the Risk and Safety Management function that he initiated in 2002. This included the hiring of the City’s first full-time Risk Manager, revitalizing the City’s long-dormant Safety Committee, better utilizing the expertise of the City’s insurance consultant, and developing a proactive partnership with NYMIR.
Towne stated, “The best indicator of the progress being made in this “Safe City” program is from a quantitative perspective.” Check out these results!
The claims are down.
Renewal costs are approximately $100,000 below budget and the results of a lot of hard work.
Towne said, “Thanks should be given to the Risk and Safety Manager, Marilyn Rivers, who has led many effective initiatives.” [JK: In a truly ironic twist, Bucciferro was on the original committee that selected Marilyn Rivers as the city’s Risk and Safety Officer. She was subsequently driven out of office by Kim, who Bucciferro is now campaigning for.]
“As well as to Harry Bucciferro, the City’s Insurance Consultant,and to the City’s Safety Committee.”
Bucciferro said there have been significant improvements in the operation and safety of City Departments because of council action.
Bucciferro said, “They projected a 17 or 18% increase, and there is actually no increase in the proposed policy for the May 2005 through May 2006 policy year.”
Here we are in 2023 with an insurance company sending a non-renewal letter stating that the city’s “Approach to Risk and Safety management creating an unacceptable increase in hazards contemplated for the City.” (Travelers’ letter). With the potential of premiums increasing by a million dollars a year. 21 Years later, Ron Kim has put the City back to where it was in 2002.
Shouldn’t Bucciferro be the first one to advise Kim that a strong program with a dedicated Risk and Safety Manager is what’s best in order to not only maintain insurance but to also get the best insurance rates for the city? Do his nearly $500 in contributions to Kim’s Political campaigns paint a picture of support of Kim over support of the City to which he made even more valuable contributions?
Remember, it’s not about being uninsurable. It’s about creating an environment that will reduce risks and premiums. Saratoga Springs can get insurance, but it will cost millions of dollars more than if there were a strong Risk and Safety Management program. Where are the estimates? Is it time for Kim to use taxpayer money from the huge fund balance “giving tree” to hire Bucciferro to come up with a Risk and Safety Management Plan? Wait, Bucciferro already created a very successful one that Kim destroyed. It’s like going Back to the Future. Come on. Wake up McFly!
Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim recently sent out the following campaign flyer with a section ironically titled “Fact Check Alert!” that contains demonstrably false information:
In this mailer Mayor Kim shamelessly promotes the false narrative that the reason Travelers Insurance canceled the city’s liability insurance was due to expenses the city is incurring because of the Attorney General’s investigation. He has said this repeatedly at a variety of public events, and now he has included this falsehood in his mailer going out to voters in the final days of this election.
This is patently untrue and part of a regrettable pattern of false statements from Kim.
Here is the actual letter from Travelers in which they state that the actual reason they canceled the policy was that “The City of Saratoga Springs’ approach to risk and safety management creates an unacceptable increase in the hazards contemplated for the City.”
Scary Implications
So the obvious question is, does he actually believe what he’s telling voters in this mailer and in public statements he has been making?
The worst possibility is that he does. There is no sign that he has done anything to address Travelers’ actual concern.
Why would any well-run insurance company be willing to underwrite our city with a Mayor so divorced from the truth on such a critical issue? What vulnerabilities is the city subject to because of the breakdown of Risk and Safety?
Last year, the Saratoga Springs Accounts Department made a clerical error that, according to court papers, cost the Saratoga Springs City School District $215,400.00 in tax income. During the contentious discussion at the September 7, 2023, City Council meeting, Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran did not dispute that there had been a clerical error in his office, but Mayor Ron Kim questioned the amount which at the time of the meeting was $217,000.00. The central dispute, though, appeared to be the remedy. The city refuses to provide the school district with the lost income.
The issue is arcane, involving the city’s failure to include Quad Graphics on its tax rolls.
I have to admit that I do not fully understand the technical issues surrounding the error. In February, the Daily Gazette reported on it for those who want to explore the details. I have also included the full video of the presentation made to the Council at the bottom of this post, during which Eleanor Mullany, the attorney representing the School District, explains the error that precipitated the conflict.
Commissioner Dillon Moran has refused to support making the school district whole by paying the lost income. Instead, he advised the school district to either:
Resend all the tax bills to the over 20,000.00 taxpayers in the Saratoga Springs City School District which extends beyond the city’s boundaries.
Eat the loss. Moran lectured the Superintendent of the Saratoga Springs School District Mike Patton and Ms. Mullaney that $215,400.00 is a tiny fraction of the total school budget, so they should be able to make some minor cuts and absorb it.
The following is an excerpt from the presentation during which Ms. Mullaney attempts to explain to the Council why sending out twenty thousand revised tax notices would create chaos for the district.
Moran’s tone in responding is problematic. At one point, he accuses Ms. Mullaney of “misrepresenting the conversations we had.” As the excerpt below documents, he tells Mullaney, “We will see you in court.”
It was quite disturbing to observe Moran’s open hostility to the representatives of the school district, who were, in contrast, quite conciliatory.
Saratoga Springs Politics 