Gordon Boyd, along with his colleagues at the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, has launched a disinformation campaign to undermine the credibility of the Charter Commission appointed by Saratoga Springs Mayor John Safford. They are attempting to spread the falsehood that the Charter Commission seeks to weaken the city’s representation in Saratoga County government by changing the charter language stating that the city has two Supervisors.
Briefly, Saratoga County’s government, not the city, has the authority to determine how many representatives each municipality within its jurisdiction is allowed. The county establishes the number of representatives, called Supervisors, each town/city is allotted based on its population size. Every municipality has at least one representative. Clifton Park and Saratoga Springs, due to their larger populations, currently have two.
If, in the future, the population growth in the county and the city were to increase sufficiently, the county might decide that the city might merit a third representative. Raising or lowering the number of Supervisors representing Saratoga Springs or any of the other municipalities in the county is solely the prerogative of the County. The wording in our charter will have no effect on that decision.
I don’t know how to make it any clearer, and this has been explained to Mr. Boyd and his colleagues repeatedly. THE CITY HAS NO AUTHORITY AS TO HOW IT IS REPRESENTED IN COUNTY GOVERNMENT. That is the prerogative of the county government.
There was no controversy among the Charter Review Commission members in their discussions about changing the language in the existing charter clause referring to two representatives to the county. The current charter, under Title 2, states that the city has two supervisors. The recommended new language would read that the City has “One or more Supervisors, as may be established by County Law,” a simple statement of fact.
They observed that if the county legislature were to grant Saratoga either more or fewer representatives, the current charter language would be invalid. The proposed language merely allows for flexibility should the county make any changes in the future.
To suggest that the Charter Commission wants to reduce the number of representatives to the county is simply false.
Some History
Mayor John Safford established a bipartisan charter review commission chaired by Vince DeLeonardis. The group, which includes several members who have previously served in city and county government, has been meeting for about a year. DeLeonardis previously served as the Saratoga Springs City Attorney and chaired an earlier charter commission established under former Mayor Meg Kelly.
The current charter, under Title 2, states that the city has two Supervisors. The recommended new language would read that the City has “One or more Supervisors, as may be established by County Law.”
On February 24, 2026, Gordon Boyd, along with several others, spoke at the Charter Review meeting. They opposed the language modifying the charter as it pertains to “supervisors.”
This is an extract from the February 24 meeting minutes, in which Boyd and his posse bizarrely claim that the Commission is proposing to reduce the city’s representation in county government.
At this meeting, DeLeonardis and other Commission members (including Matt Veitch, who served as one of Saratoga’s County Supervisors for 18 years) attempted to explain that the proposed change in language would not reduce the number of Supervisors allotted to the city and to discuss the reasoning behind the proposed changes. (I have included more extensive remarks made by DeLeonardis at a different meeting at the end of this blog.) Unfortunately, it appeared that for whatever reason, the explanation from Commission members had little effect on Boyd and his followers. On March 3, Boyd and someone named Robin Baxter appeared at the City Council meeting and repeated the same disinformation during the public comment period.
On May 5, 2026, the past chair of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, Otis Maxwell, used the City Council public comment period to again offer the same made-up concerns. Here is Maxwell speaking and DeLeonardis’s response that night.
Stunning Cynicism
Boyd and his compatriots should be uncomfortable about criticizing the language proposed to handle the Supervisor issue. In February,2017, an earlier Charter Review Commission of which Boyd was a member, not only acknowledged the county’s authority to determine how municipalities will be represented, but also recommended removing any language about Supervisors from the city’s charter.
Vince DeLeonardis’ Full Analysis
At the March 16, 2026, pre-agenda meeting of the City Council, DeLeonardis gave a thorough analysis of the Supervisor controversy.
Saratoga Springs Politics 