At its meeting on August 5, 2025, the Saratoga Springs City Council rejected an attempt by Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran to have them appeal a ruling that barred paying his and former Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub’s legal bills.
Into The Weeds for A Little Background
Many years ago, the city adopted a resolution regarding the indemnification of city employees and officials in civil matters. That is to say, the city established that an employee or official charged with a civil complaint would be eligible for the city to pick up the cost of legal representation. It did not address criminal matters.
For years, the city had the opportunity to adopt a section of state law that would have made city employees and officials eligible for indemnification in criminal matters as well, but successive City Councils never did so.
Nevertheless, the Democratic majority at the time on the City Council (Moran, Golub, and Sanghvi) voted to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills that Democratic Commissioner Moran had accrued during the New York State Police investigation into OnCall pay, which was a criminal investigation.
Judge Walsh’s decision ruled that, as the city’s locally adopted indemnification policy only addressed civil charges, neither Dillon Moran nor Jason Golub was eligible for the city to pay their legal bills, since their cases involved criminal charges.
To address this lack of coverage in criminal matters, the City Council has scheduled a public hearing for its next meeting on plans to replace the local law with two sections of state law that would, going forward, indemnify employees and officials for both civil and criminal charges.
Unfortunately for Golub and Moran, as their bills predate the adoption of this law and their cases involved a criminal investigation, they are not eligible to have their bills paid. The Council voted 3 to 1 against appealing Judge Walsh’s ruling, with Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi absent and only Moran voting in favor.
Moran: Is It A Problem With His Memory Or His Honesty?
In an earlier post, I wrote about Moran’s repeated failure to follow the policy of posting proposed actions on the Council agenda on the Friday before Council meetings. I noted this is important so the public and fellow Council members can be given time to understand the significance of pending legislation. This week, Moran once again waited until the last minute to add his resolution to Tuesday’s agenda, and he failed to attach copies of the bills generated by his and Golub’s attorneys to the agenda for public and Council review.
To confuse his colleagues, add chaos to the deliberations, and divert criticism for his failure to properly attach his attorney bills to the agenda, he made a rambling attack, asserting that somehow the City Attorney was to blame for his lack of transparency.
Moran is like dealing with a recalcitrant teenager. When the attack on the City Attorney failed to gain traction, he asserted instead that the city had never posted attorney bills with agenda items so this wasn’t a problem.
The problem is that what Dillon confidently asserted was wrong. There are numerous examples of legal bills attached to agendas. Here are legal bills attached to an earlier request for payment that appeared on the Council’s agenda.
Moran’s Attempt To Get His Bills Paid Wasn’t Even Crafted Properly
In addition, Moran failed to bring to the table the additional resolutions required to fund an appeal. This would have required two legislative actions including a budget amendment to properly access the necessary city funds. Moran has never been one for details. He tends to throw together the resolutions he brings to the table without doing proper research or getting proper legal advice.
Moran’s Conflict of Interest
Moran also appears to be oblivious to the concept of a “conflict of interest.” At the August 5 meeting, Moran moved that the city pursue an appeal of Judge Walsh’s decision in order to allow the city to pay his legal bills. This was a clear conflict of interest. To add insult to injury, he also voted to approve his own resolution for the appeal. Since he also cast the deciding vote with the previous Council when they initially agreed to pay his exorbitant bill, this is no surprise. It is the way Dillon Moran does city business.
Toxic Attack On Lisa Ribis
Dillon Moran had many angry ramblings at Tuesday night’s meeting. Among the most odious and bizarre was his rant which revisited his false claims against his former and now deceased employee, Lisa Ribis.
I have written earlier about Moran’s unscrupulous attempt to blame Lisa Ribis for the on-call pay scandal. At the August 5 meeting, he, for some reason, revisited all his false claims, including that he fired Ribis for altering the minutes for on-call. His slurs at this meeting were entirely gratuitous, having nothing to do with the resolution on the table regarding the appeal of Judge Walsh’s decision. It was just another example of how illogical and toxic his rants often are. It’s as if he lives in his own magical universe, where he creates facts on the fly to support whatever he wants.
Lisa Ribis is deceased and cannot defend herself.
Madigan Waded Into the Fray to Support Moran
To add even more drama at this Council meeting, Democratic candidate for Mayor Michele Madigan left her seat at the Supervisors’ table in the Council chamber and stepped up to the microphone to give her full-throated support to paying Moran’s bills. She characterized anyone who would oppose paying Moran’s bills as somehow being part of an authoritarian MAGA campaign.
This was, interestingly, the direct opposite of her position just last year when she herself was one of those people opposed to paying these same bills. This is what she wrote when Moran’s legal bills were coming before the Council not that long ago
Saratoga Springs Politics 
When will the $60,992.65 that was moved from the legal liability assignment to Dillon Moran get credited back to the assignment since
the judge declared that payment unlawful?
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Good question. Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi should be able to answer that—if you can find her. She seems to be not attending Council meetings any more.
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As I share the statement by Michele Madigan on the portion of this post referring to her, let me start by saying:
” .left her seat at the Supervisors’ table in the Council chamber and stepped up to the microphone to give her full-throated support to paying Moran’s bills.” She characterized anyone who would oppose paying Moran’s bills as somehow being part of an authoritarian MAGA campaign.”
First, she left during public comments as she has the right to do as she is not a voting member of the Commission. She also did this, properly, as a private citizen, rather than speak from her seat to the Supervisor’s table.
And, at no point in her comments did she full throatedly or even slightly support the paying of Moran’s bills.
She did not characterize anyone regarding this topic as MAGA. All that was reserved solely for Mike Brandi and the Republican committee that bends a knee to him.
Lastly,
John, I had quite some time ago come to respect you even when I didn’t agree. I am saddened and confused by your recent post regarding the upcoming election. Your objectivity and critical thinking seems to have been put aside for some more personal agenda. I hope you can return to more neutrality and reasonableness.
NOTE: These are MY comments and not to be credited to Madigan.
Statement from Michele Madigan
Setting the Record Straight:
What I Said — and Did Not Say — on August 5
Per Republican Judge Walsh, our city code only indemnifies civil cases — not criminal charges — even when those charges are baseless and politically motivated.
I never supported the on-call pay vote that led to Dillon Moran’s case, and I’ve never spoken in favor of indemnifying him. I did speak out for Jason Golub, whose case was a GOP-driven smear, tossed out in court but cemented as ineligible for defense by Judge Walsh’s ruling.
If the code can’t protect officials acting in good faith from targeted legal harassment, it’s the code that needs to change.
Let me be clear on my own record:
• I did not support the City Council’s 4–1 vote that created on-call pay.
Here is my statement on this very issue as County Supervisor:
• I have not spoken in favor of indemnifying Dillon Moran.
• I did speak out in support of Commissioner Jason Golub — because his case was a politically motivated attack, fueled by John Kaufmann, the local GOP, and their allies, not by any legitimate concern for public safety or the law. That case, which involved an alleged misdemeanor, the charges were thrown out.
My statement at the 8/5/2025 City Council Meeting:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2021237398616704
If our current code makes no distinction between a baseless, politically motivated criminal charge and a legitimate one — and automatically blocks indemnification in both cases — then it is the code, not just the politics, that needs to change.
Public officials doing their jobs in good faith should not be bankrupted by targeted legal harassment. The GOP may use the courts as a political weapon; we should not let our own laws allow for that strategy to succeed.
Gayle LaSalle
Friend and Supporter of Michele Madigan for Mayor of Saratoga Springs
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I thought that, in the past, when an attorney was hired to represent Council members, their law firm would first provide an estimate of the anticipated fees. The Council would then approve expenditures that would approximate that amount. If the fees were later found to exceed the approved amount, the Council would have to approve further expenditures. All of this would be part of the public record.
Commissioner Moran hired a Manhattan law firm to defend him and his deputy at an hourly fee ($1250) that far exceeded legal fees charged in our general area. He then came to the City Council to seek payment for services that had already been charged up to that point without first getting authorization from the Council.
At the time, Commissioner Moran made the ludicrous claim that the City was paying ‘only’ $600 per hour since they were representing both him and his deputy. Not only was his math bad ($625 per person, not $600) but he seemed to not understand that law firms charge by the hour, not by the person.
I do believe that the City should be covering reasonable legal fees associated with the case against Commissioner Moran and his deputy. The case is directly associated with their official duties. The Council should clarify that there will be coverage for such expenses whether the case is criminal or civil in nature. Even though there is no current stipulation regarding criminal case coverage, I believe that the City Council, the duly elected body which represents the citizens of Saratoga Springs, has the right to approve expenditures such as this. I think the judge exceeded his authority.
I am not sure of the political history of the judge but the fact that the challenge to these payments was brought by the chair of the City Republican Committee might have tipped the scales of justice to at least some extent.
Regarding coverage of legal fees for former Commissioner Golub, the Council should look at this case separately. Is having City employees diagnose and remedy plumbing problems in the Commissioner of Public Works’ home an ‘official duty’ of Commissioner Golub? This was certainly more an error in judgement than a major crime but expecting the City to pay to have an attorney fight the charges adds insult to injury. Commissioner Golub should have just admitted that calling a plumber would have been the right choice in this matter.
Chris Mathiesen
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