At the January 2, 2024, Saratoga Springs City Council meeting, newly elected Mayor John Safford introduced a resolution to make a payment required by a court order. This should have been a routine vote to approve the court settlement/but not for Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran.
In 2023, requests by Saratoga Springs Republican Chair Mike Brandi to secure documents from the city under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) were ignored in flagrant violation of the law.
Brandi sued the city, and the court sustained his complaint that the city had violated FOIL and ordered the city to pay his costs ($2,500.00) and to provide him with the documents.
This blog has documented the disintegration of the city’s response to the Freedom of Information Law under the previous City Council. FOIL is at the heart of open government. Months ago, this last Council acknowledged that it was routinely in violation of its obligation to release public documents to citizens in a timely manner but, in spite of this, chose to take no action to address the problem.
The following is a video from the January 2, 2024, Council meeting. As the video documents, Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran first pretends he does not know who the litigant was that the city was required to pay. Moran asks Safford, “Who is this check going to?” After Mayor Safford confirms that it is going to Brandi, Moran disingenuously asks whether Brandi is the G.O.P. chair. After Safford confirms that Brandi is the G.O.P. chair, Moran feels “compelled” to ask, “The G.O.P. chair sued the city?” and when Safford confirms, Moran asserts, “It’s not very civil.” The Council then moves to a vote. Moran votes no on complying with the order to pay. He offers no explanation.
Ugly Partisan Behavior by Moran Right Out Of The Gate
As readers may know, all but one of the candidates endorsed by One Saratoga won the seats they ran for in the November election. Their theme was “City before party.” It was hoped by many that that successful message in this last election would result in a Council whose members would avoid cheap partisan attacks and that their votes and actions would reflect a commitment to doing what is best for the city. Apparently, Dillon Moran didn’t get the message.
In this first Council meeting of the New Year, there was nothing even thinly disguised in Moran’s gratuitous, partisan performance. It makes no difference who requests documents from the city. Under New York State Law, all citizens have the right to secure documents under FOIL, and all government bodies in New York State are required to respond in a timely manner or pay the consequences. Dillon Moran does not get to decide any of this.
It is most disturbing that he would vote to ignore the court’s order. Moran now oversees Risk and Safety. Rather than set a standard for rigorously adhering to all city, state, and federal requirements as he had just taken an oath to do when he was sworn into office the day before, he openly flaunted the court’s authority in order to indulge in partisan grandstanding.
Moran’s behavior signals that he, for his part, is not about to leave the acrimony that plagued the last Council behind.
Saratoga Springs Politics 
Typical Moran. A shortsighted and political “statement.” Let’s look at what might have happened if two other council peoole voted with him. There would have been interest accumulating at 9% almost instantly. There would have been a motion to hold the city council members voting no in civil contempt which would have involved fines (which Moran would likely try to pass on to the city), and there would have been efforts to enforce the judgment which would have affected the City’s credit rating and insurability. In the end, the petitioner would have gotten even more money. Moran is lucky his democratic colleagues understood the importance of a court order and voted accordingly. And this guy is the commissioner of “accounts”
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There is some confusion as to separation of powers here. The Court Order is a legally binding document. The Court can order the city to pay, however, it cannot order a legislator to vote a certain way. Ultimately, if the city voted to not pay, the Court could use other methods to enforce its order. Moran is not in contempt for his vote. This is similar to the concept of not signing a document. No legal entity can force you to agree to anything – however, it can coerce compliance to a legal and Constitutional order. I am interested in knowing if Mayor Kim was communicating with the FOIL officer for political purposes, thus creating the pretext for a lawsuit to begin with.
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I thought it interesting that Jason Golub finally found his voice at this meeting. After almost two years of remaining silent as Ron Kim mishandled meeting after meeting he pipes up to tell John Safford that he needs to administer the rules for public comment evenhandedly as if Safford didn’t understand that he needed to do this. Why speak up now?
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Perhaps Jason is speaking up because he realizes he now has a Mayor who will at least listen and care. I don’t know how things will go with Saford policy-wise, yet I do think he is a person of integrity and will not simply dismiss or worse, bully someone speaking.
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Dillon Moran comes off as an angry human being. Blatantly disregarding FOIL requests is not only not transparent, but I believe is illegal. Our great city deserves a better Commissioner of Accounts.
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No comment on the potential for favoritism regarding Mayor Safford’s new meeting rules? Only 30 minute comment period? The Mayor gets to decide who has more than three minutes? No clapping? The requirement that speakers have to provide an address? Is this “democracy” in America? You claim to be an impartial, non-partisan reporter of Saratoga Springs politics/government, albeit with strong opinions. I’m curious if this is true.
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The meeting rules that were provided at the meeting had DRAFT stamped on all the pages. I expect Mayor Safford will respond to public comments. Among other things, I think whatever time limit is established for individual speakers it should be rigidly enforced without exception. I am unclear on the law but I think there is a strong argument against requiring people’s addresses.
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A valid reason for asking a person’s address is to ascertain whether or not they’re a Saratoga Springs resident. The purpose of Council meetings is, after all, to address issues that affect the residents of Saratoga Springs.
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Bruce-I’m afraid your comments reflect a not very careful reading of the proposed changes in Council meeting rules. For instance, the rules do not say “no clapping”. A full reading of the proposal says:
“Members of the public shall not engage in behaviors which disrupt the conduct of the meeting. Prohibitive conduct includes disorderly, disruptive, disturbing, delaying or boisterous conduct which may include…handclapping…which conduct interrupts, delays, or disturbs the peace and good order of the proceedings of the council.”
I find it curious that you object to the 30 minute public comment period as this is twice as long as the 15 minute limit of the previous Council which I don’t’ remember you objecting to. With a three minute rather than a 4 minute limit on speakers more than twice as many citizens will have time to speak than under the previous Council rules. In any case the 30 minutes can be extended according to the new rules “to accommodate a larger number of people who may wish to address the Council at a given meeting.” Yes, the ability to extend the time of a speaker and the overall 30 minute time for public comment is at the prerogative of the chair. This is not unusual and allows necessary flexibility in real time. Of course there is always a danger that a chair will abuse this authority as we frequently saw with the previous mayor. (Again I don’t remember you voicing any concerns about that.) It will be up to the public to judge if Safford like Kim abuses this power and act accordingly.
As to the sign in requirement this is also a common practice in municipalities in the area as well as school boards.
These proposed rules are based on what Saratoga County uses and have been vetted by the New York State Committee on Open Government and are a draft that is a work in progress. Hopefully the public will review and give input but hopefully that input will be based on an accurate reading of what is being proposed.
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No surprise here. Both Sanghvi’s and Moran’s behavior was well known early on, but I’m still puzzled as to why neither One Saratoga nor the GOP put forth candidates for Finance and Accounts.
As an aside, Mayor Safford recently boasted (I believe I heard it in an interview on WAMC radio) that he won because Democrats crossed over and voted for him. In realty, he won because Dems did not vote for Kim and voted for Chris Mathiesen instead. Safford received a total 0f 3,736 votes, whereas the combined total for Kim and Mathiesen was 4,437 votes. Barely in office for a week and he’s already promoting alternative facts.
Furthermore, Safford’s largest campaign contributor (over $6,500) was North Country Strategies, an LLC that’s headed by Alex Degrasse, chief strategist for crypto-fascist GOP congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
Sorry, Johnny-boy, as far as I’m concerned, the honeymoon is over.
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Duke—before you accuse John Safford of “promoting alternative facts” I would think you would want to be sure you aren’t doing that yourself. According to the transcript of Lucas Willard’s interview with Safford on WAMC on Nov. 11, 2023, Safford said the following about his win:
“….I always get 45% [when I run for office]. And if the Democrats split, which they did, then I can win. And that’s exactly what happened.”
And later in the interview: “And I do have to give credit to the One Saratoga line where moderate Democrats can have a place to vote. I’m very grateful to Chris Mathiesen who, you know, stayed and fought for that line.”
And as to the Republicans and One Saratoga not challenging Minita and Dillon I can only assure you it wasn’t because they didn’t try to find candidates. So I have to ask-did you come forward and offer to run? Did you encourage anyone you know to run? And if not, why not? I can assure you, there is nothing more annoying to those who work hard to put together slates than to hear glib criticisms like yours coming from the sidelines. So I expect great things from you in 2025, Duke-get those full slates put together! The Republicans and One Saratoga I’m sure would welcome your help.
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I find it troublesome, that anyone would criticize Mayor Stafford for attempting to permute the disastrous blunders of the previous administration. (Duke)
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Moran is a moron. Not caring how his vote could financially affect the City taxpayers shows his unwillingness to follow not only the court order but the NYSFOIA laws passed by The NYS Legislature.
Other legislative bodies in this country have passed FOIL and Open Meeting law violations that holds the individuals financially responsible for the FOIL and Open Meeting Laws violations. So, if it was Moran who denied or held up the response for the information requested, he would have to pay the $2,500.00 court ordered judgment.
Way too often these politicians play the delay and deny game when it comes to properly responding and fulfilling these request because they know and are advised by legal counsel that there are no legal repercussions they will suffer personally.
Moran needs to goooooo!!!!!!!!!!
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