Lisa Ribis Was the Best of Saratoga- Dillon Moran is the Worst

Lisa Ribis, who served the city of Saratoga Springs for twenty years and enjoyed the love and respect of her colleagues, passed away on April 4, 2025, shortly after her retirement. Sadly her boss in City Hall, Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran, persisted in tormenting and abusing her during her final two years working under him, finally forcing her out of her job pending a hearing on his dubious charges

A Fitting Tribute to Lisa Ribis

At the April 15, 2025, City Council meeting, the room and the hall were packed with Lisa Ribis’ many friends and colleagues. Mayor John Safford offered the following memorial to her. Those gathered applauded.

Former Accounts Commissioner John Franck’s Remembrances Of Lisa Ribis Are a Testimony to What An Asset She Was to the City

Lisa began working for the city in 2005 at the Department of Public Works where she remained until 2008, when she moved to the Accounts Department. As part of her work in the Accounts Department, she took the minutes at City Council meetings.

Lisa began her tenure in the Accounts Department when John Franck was the Commissioner.

I texted him about Lisa, and he wrote back.

“She was extremely smart and knowledgeable. I can’t tell you how many times she would whisper behind, saying they need to redo the motion, it’s not correct, or they need a 4/5ths vote, and she was always spot on.”

“She was everything a civil servant should be. I found her just kind and down to earth.”

John Franck

He also sent me a picture of him and Lisa. She is sitting behind him, taking the minutes.

Drawing Dillon Moran’s Ire

Sadly, the atmosphere within the Accounts Department and at the City Council table changed dramatically when Moran replaced Franck as Accounts Commissioner.

Lisa’s problems with Commissioner Moran began on February 1, 2022, when her husband, Joe Ribis, spoke during the public comment period at a Council meeting. He harshly criticized the Council for its failure to confront the local Black Lives Matter group that had been regularly disrupting City Council meetings.

On February 15, 2022, Moran informed Lisa that she would no longer be taking minutes as the Council’s secretary. In her lawsuit (below), Lisa attributed Moran’s behavior to Joe Ribis’ public remarks.

A Campaign Of Harassment

The following are some of the tactics Moran used to try to harass Lisa into quitting.

On March 15, 2022, Lisa again took minutes for the Council meeting. The following day, Moran told her she would not receive compensatory time or overtime pay for her work the previous night. For the thirteen years before this, Lisa had routinely received this benefit.

This was an act of petty harassment. Moran had to know that his action would not survive a grievance by Lisa, but he did it anyway to create a hostile environment that he hoped would force her to quit. Not surprisingly, in January of 2023, an arbitrator found that Lisa had been improperly denied compensation for her evening work at the Council meeting. She was vindicated as expected.

In April of 2022, Moran falsely accused Lisa of spitting on BLM demonstrators. This gratuitous attack was again meant to humiliate Lisa. On April 6, 2022, Lisa filed a complaint with the city’s Human Resources Department, challenging Moran’s allegation.

Lisa was quiet, soft spoken, and thoughtful. I know that it would have been very painful for her to have such sordid behavior attributed to her. Anyone familiar with Moran knows that he often resorts to boasts and falsehoods like this, which are recklessly meant to hurt or confuse. This accusation was particularly bizarre, not only because it was unimaginable that Lisa would do anything like this, but given the layout of the Music Hall, where the meetings were taking place, it was also physically impossible.

In May, Moran told Lisa that from now on, she was to report to his Deputy, Stacy Connors, every morning and ask her what her work would be for the day. She was the only employee in the department required to do this. Lisa had been in the Accounts Department for many years, whereas Moran and Connors were new to the Department. Nevertheless, Lisa faithfully carried out the directive. As an interesting aside, Lisa told me that Stacy rarely appeared before 10:00 a.m. and frequently arrived after 11:00 a.m. For her own amusement, Lisa kept a log of Connor’s tardy appearances.

On September 13, 2023, at an Accounts Department staff meeting, Moran referred to Italians as “guinea-wops.” Lisa was the only Italian person present. Moran also referred to her as “the queen of grievances” at the meeting.

In February 2024, Moran began falsely telling people in City Hall, including members of the Mayor’s office and the Human Resources Department, that Lisa had altered the city resolution establishing the scandal-plagued on-call status.

In another petty move, Moran also began to arbitrarily delay Lisa’s requests to use her earned compensatory time.

There are many more petty actions taken by Moran and his Deputy, Stacy Connors, to undermine Lisa’s credibility. Her lawsuit, included with this post, documents all of them.

This Is Dillon Moran

For many months, Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran hounded and tried to humiliate Ms. Ribis in an attempt to get rid of her. He finally brought charges that led to her dismissal. He had her pack up her things and go on paid leave.

Lisa had two avenues to fight her termination. Public employees have a right to an administrative hearing to defend themselves in what is referred to as an Article 75. The other was a lawsuit against the city for her treatment, which she had begun. Sadly, as her health declined, she decided that both the Article 75 and the lawsuit were unnecessary distractions and she dropped both. In January 2025, having reached her retirement age, she retired. She died four months later.

This blog has chronicled the corrosive behavior of Dillon Moran. Most of his behavior has involved other elected officials who should be strong enough to shrug off his intemperate attacks.

In the case of Lisa Ribis, his abuse descended to a new low. As a manager, the people who report to you are vulnerable humans who are entrusted to your supervision. There is only one way to describe what he did to Lisa: shameless.