Author: John Kaufmann

Adopting regulations for short term rentals (STRs) in Saratoga Springs has been an agonizing ordeal. It has gone on forever, with public hearings held in many cases without the actual language of the proposed ordinance available.

Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran is the self-appointed czar who tightly controls the entire process.

Both the New York Assembly and the Senate have adopted legislation that, if implemented, would establish a state registry and facilitate the taxing of STRs. The Governor has not yet signed their bill. The state law would allow municipalities that have adopted their own registry and taxes to continue.

For reasons I am still unclear on, Commissioner Moran has insisted that the city adopt its local law and licensing process before the state program goes into effect.

He’s The Czar

The following incident embodies the helter-skelter and arbitrary way in which Moran has “managed” this process of designing the STR legislation.

The City Council met for its pre-agenda meeting on November 18, 2024, just one day before the regular Council meeting. The proposed STR local law language appeared on the published agenda the previous Friday.

Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi chose this meeting to share that she had bought a house next to hers. She was unhappy that, while she could rent out her own home for one hundred and fifty days, she was limited to only one hundred and twenty days for the other house according to the proposed law.

No problem. Moran scrapped the one hundred twenty day limit and increased the non-owner limit to one hundred fifty right at the table.

Why did Sanghvi wait until one day before the adoption of the legislation to raise her concerns? Who knows.

I am not sure whether it is legally a conflict of interest for her to advocate at the table for a change that would benefit her personally. Still, the appearance of impropriety is very troubling.

There is also the problem of transparency. Most people would have thought that the language of the proposed law published by the city on the previous Friday was complete and accurate.

In fact, it is my understanding that further changes were made on the very day that the law was to be adopted.

Proper Notice

Moran had been advised on the Monday before the Tuesday meeting that the city was required to post proposed legislation at least ten days before adoption. He ignored this. Had he successfully gotten the Council to approve the law, it would have been subject to litigation.

Typos

The city has spent thousands of dollars paying the Towne Law Firm to craft the legislation. The draft legislation that appeared on the city’s website contained typos. It is axiomatic that any adopted law should be free of these errors. I find it hard to believe that the law firm was the source of the errors. People familiar with Moran know he routinely plows through things with little concern about mistakes (Oh, we’ll fix that later). It is reasonable to assume that he made changes in the document without consulting the law firm.

Perilous Waters

I do not have the time to go through the document here, but given Moran’s record and the incidents cited above, I have little confidence in its viability.

The fact that Moran himself tabled the proposed legislation is a testament to his reckless attempt to bring to a vote a deeply flawed proposal.

What Is This Legislation Really About?

Some months ago, Saratoga Podcast had a consultant who works with Granicus Corporation as a guest. The city relies on Granicus for assessment assistance.

He observed that before embarking on legislation, the city needs to ask itself where it wants to be in five years.

Is this legislation about improving safety in the city’s rentals?

Is it to produce maximum income for the city?

Is it about how to protect the quality of life in our neighborhoods?

If it is the last item, how will the regulations achieve this? One hundred and fifty days allows these units to be rented every weekend of the year.

More significantly, if noise and excessive parking are the issues, are there other ways to address these problems than licensing these units?

Cavalierly increasing the number of days a unit can be rented, as Moran did for Sanghvi, does not breed confidence that these issues are being rigorously analyzed and assessed.

A History Of Arbitrary Actions

This blogger has tried, with little success, to find out how Moran determines key matrixes. When he virtually gave away the use of city properties to bars and restaurants for outdoor dining, I FOILed for any documents revealing the basis for calculating these fees. The response to my request was that there were no such documents.

When the Accounts Department claimed they would receive $250,000.00 in income in their annual proposed budget for 2024 (they didn’t), I FOILed for any documents explaining how they arrived at this number. I was told there were no such documents.

Moran’s history is one where critical analysis is badly missing. He cannot be bothered. His law to manage STRs sadly continues this tradition.

Commissioner of Public Works Hank Kuczynski posted the following statement on the city website today, November 21, 2024.

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Saratoga County Supreme Court Justice Dianne Freestone has ruled that the previous Saratoga Springs City Council violated the New York State Open Meetings Law (OML) by conducting city business by email. Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran rejected the judge’s decision when he spoke to the Saratogian in an excellent article by Emma Ralls in the November 15, 2024, edition:

Moran stated to the Saratogian. “I did nothing wrong. The judge stated I did nothing wrong and the judgment reflects it.”

Dillon Moran To The Saratogian

I don’t know what opinion Moran read, but it was not the one issued by Judge Freestone on November 11. The opinion states several times that the city’s use of emails to transact business violated OML. What is not to understand about this statement:

“The court finds the respondents [JK:The city] violated the open meetings law”

Judge Dianne Fresstone’s Ruling

The Events

Last year, on October 3rd, Governor Kathy Hochul issued an edict allowing licensed liquor establishments to serve patrons early on Sunday morning to watch a special Buffalo Bills game in London, England.

In response, the previous city administration (Mayor Ron Kim, Commissioners Moran, Sanghvi, Golub, and Montagnino) used emails to authorize the local bars to open early rather than convene a special meeting.

The Council Had Conceded Back in 2023 that They Violated The Open Meetings Law

At the December 5, 2023, City Council meeting almost a year ago, there was general acknowledgment that the city had violated the Open Meetings Law in approving the early bar openings. Here, Mayor Kim concedes that they violated the OML.

Even Moran conceded it at the time:

The Lawsuit

In October of 2023, Saratoga Springs Republican Chair Mike Brandi sued the city, arguing that the city’s use of email violated the New York State Open Meetings Law. He had previously sought an opinion from the New York State Committee on Open Government (COOG). The COOG opinion confirmed the violation:

“In our opinion, a vote should have ocurred at an open meeting in compliance with the OML.”

COOG October 23, 2023

Brandi offered to withdraw his lawsuit to avoid litigation if the Council members underwent an hour and a half of training conducted by the COOG. All the other Council members agreed to the training except for Moran. His petty response necessitated the City Attorneys defending the city in New York Supreme Court. As noted earlier, the Council had already admitted to the violation, so Moran’s response was particularly belligerent, foolish, and wasteful of the taxpayers’ money.

Not An Isolated Violation

The email addressed in the lawsuit was not an isolated event. The FOIL that unearthed that violation also produced numerous other similar violations of voting done by email. Unfortunately, the other violations were exempt from litigation due to the statute of limitations.

The FOIL also revealed hundreds of texts in group messages prohibited by the Open Meetings Law. Carrying on a group text among Council members is just another example of, at a minimum, denying the public knowledge of deliberations by elected officials.

Due to the statute of limitations, Brandi could not bring these to Judge Freestone’s attention.

The Decision

In her decision, Judge Freestone agreed that the city had violated the OML but noted that their action was “unintentional, immaterial and wholly unprejudicial.” I am not a lawyer, but I think the judge meant that the Council had not intentionally violated the OML and that the action was for a minor, non-controversial issue. The Council was not trying to hide its actions from the public, which somehow mitigated their violation.

With respect to Judge Freestone, I am afraid she had her dates wrong. Governor Hochul issued her special waiver for bars on October 3, 2023. The Council began emailing about taking action on October 4. That meant that they had three days to schedule a meeting, and, in fact, they could have had their meeting on Saturday, so they actually had four days, not one day, as stated in Judge Freestone’s decision. All they needed was three Council members to convene for a few minutes.

The fundamental point remains. They did not meet the OML law requirements because they were ignorant that they were violating it, not because they did not have time.

Having been advised back in 2023 that they had violated the OML and having acknowledged their error, the real question is why Moran refused the easy solution of participating in a short course on OML, which would have resulted in Brandi agreeing to drop the lawsuit.

Dillon Moran Acts Out

Moran’s response to the Saratogian Newspaper reporter Emma Ralls demonstrates that if anyone on the Council needs training on OML, it is he.

“I find it absolutely disgusting that me doing my job and helping small businesses is somehow the subject matter of this frivolous lawsuit.”

Moran to the Saratogian

“Frankly, I was simply doing my ministerial duty and letting my peers know that I was doing it. For that, the city got a lawsuit, who knows how many wasted hours of court time,” Moran said. “When he (Brandi) continues to point fingers and say that we’re responsible for costing taxpayers money, he is wrong. I reject that because he, himself, is the cause.”

“He is the person who’s trying to criminalize our personal behavior over politics and it’s disgusting. We’re above this, or we should be above this as a community.”

Moran To Saratogian

How blind and ignorant does he think the public is? He violated the OML and refused to accept Brandi’s offer to withdraw his lawsuit if the City Council participated in a mere hour and a half of training. He then blames Brandi for the cost of litigation. He also makes a strange accusation about Brandi trying to “criminalize our personal behavior over politics.” What criminal behavior is he talking about? The OML issue is civil, not criminal.

Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran has been engaged in a mad campaign of conflicting statements and resolutions to find a way to bail out the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee’s failure to place a candidate on the January 28, 2025, special election ballot. With every ploy failing, at the November 6, 2024, City Council meeting, Moran and newly appointed Public Works Commissioner Hank Kuczynski, a Democrat, falsely contended they had the right to cancel the election so that Kuczynski could serve the entire rest of Golub’s term to the end of 2025.

Video From The November 6 Meeting

The Key Points

• Moran attempts to gaslight the community by blaming Joe Suhrada, the Republican Commissioner of the Saratoga County Board of Elections, for blocking the special election when he knows that Suhrada has agreed to the election, and worse, that Cassie Bagramian, the Democratic Commissioner, is now blocking the special election.
• Having claimed that she had the authority to block the city’s special election, Bagramian could not cite any statute or legal precedent to substantiate her claim.
• At the pre-agenda meeting, Moran claimed he could retroactively alter the election calendar so that the Democratic Committee could get their candidate on the special election ballot.
• The City Attorneys issued an opinion that the city, having voted to issue the required proclamation crafted by Moran, could not alter or cancel the election.
• Despite the City Attorney’s opinion that the special election must proceed, Moran announced that there would be no special election, and he and Kuczynski declared that Kuczynski would serve Golub’s full remaining term as Commissioner of Public Works.

The Dubious Maneuvering At The County Board of Elections

At the November 6, 2024, City Council meeting, Moran elaborated at length on the fact that the County Board of Elections’ Republican Commissioner had blocked the city’s special election.

It is true that Republican Commissioner Joe Suhrada initially opposed allowing the special election, but he subsequently announced his support for it after receiving a letter from the Attorney General that he said addressed his concerns. Omitted from Moran’s rant, was that Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner Cassie Bagramian then asserted that unless the city changed the election calendar to accommodate a Democrat on the ballot, she would not allow the special election to proceed (see email below)! Apparently, Moran thought that no one would notice.

Bagramian’s Overreach

The Saratoga County Board of Elections does not have the authority to decide whether or not an election should proceed. This blogger has researched the issue, and no statutes or legal precedents grant this authority.

I emailed Democratic Commissioner Bagramian several times, asking her to provide the legal basis for her claim of authority. While she wrote back to me, she failed to acknowledge that there was even a question about her authority, let alone provide documentation.

Moran’s False Claim That He Could Change The Election Calendar To Get A Democrat On The Ballot

At the pre-agenda meeting on November 4, 2024, Moran presented the other Council members with a revised special election calendar. The new dates would allow the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee to place their candidate on the ballot. He advised his colleagues that he would submit the new calendar for a vote at the November 6, 2024, Council meeting.

The City Attorneys’ Opinion Blows Moran’s Revised Calendar Out Of The Water

Unfortunately for Moran, City Attorneys David Harper and Tony Izzo issued an opinion that the special election, having been properly “proclaimed” (Moran himself had drafted it), could not be modified or canceled. As documented in the video, Moran, who is not an attorney, damned the opinion as “intellectually dishonest.”

Moran and Kuczynski Assert That There Will Be No Special Election and That Kuczynski Will Serve Out The Commissioner of Public Works Term

As noted above, neither the County Board of Elections nor the City Council can alter an officially proclaimed election.

Putting aside the City Attorneys’ opinion, it is worth noting that the City Charter states that the Council can appoint a person to fill a vacancy only “until the end of the official year in which said vacancy occurs”[Sec. 2.4] So, even according to the charter, neither Moran nor Kuczynski had the authority to announce that Kuczynski could serve the entire term. According to my calendar, the year will end in less than two months, and the term runs through all of 2025.

It Won’t Work

Moran’s and Kuczynski’s arrogance and hubris in thinking that they can cancel the special election and then simply announce that Kuczynski will stay on the Council till the end of 2025 are stunning. Apparently, they are operating in a bubble that confuses what they want with what is legal.

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This is a screenshot of a post from the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee’s Facebook page.

This blogger lives in a different universe than the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee.

To this blogger, being an elected official requires the highest standards of ethics. The people have elected their officials because they believe these men and women will scrupulously avoid abusing their position by drawing on the city’s resources for personal use. I cannot believe this is even debatable. Yet, we have two clear instances in which former Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub and current Public Works Deputy Joe O’Neill exploited the trust of this community by using city employees and city materials to work on private premises, and the Democratic Committee dismisses this behavior by blaming it on alleged racism and revenge.

I find it particularly discouraging that the committee would stoop to using racism to dismiss wrongdoing.

I take no pleasure in the exposure of these two men’s actions, nor do I hope that the penalties they may incur will be severe. I know this kind of petty corruption is too common in our country. Still, I am proud that in pursuing these charges, this city announces that what may be business as usual in other cities will not be tolerated in Saratoga Springs. Rather than cast doubt on the integrity of our police department as the Democratic Committee has done, I am proud of them.

As an enrolled Democrat, I ask: Is there not one member of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee who will speak out regarding their committee’s behavior in this matter?

Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran has inserted himself into the news stories on the charges against ex-Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub and Department of Public Works Deputy Joe O’Neill III. Following the disclosure of the charges for Official Misconduct, a Class A misdemeanor, Moran contacted the media to attempt damage control on behalf of his friend, Jason Golub.

Neither Moran nor Golub’s lawyer denies that public employees did work on the Commissioner’s private home. Moran’s strategy is to simply belittle the fact that Golub, rather than spend money like the rest of us to hire a plumber to fix a plugged-up sink, had employees under him make two visits to his home when he was present to solve his problem. Moran then attempts to divert attention from this misconduct by making wild accusations against Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll and the Saratoga Springs Police.

Moran tries to confuse the public and divert attention from the charges against Golub by claiming that Coll and the SSPD had some dark ulterior desire to destroy Golub. His narrative conveniently ignores that the investigation was prompted not by Coll or the police but by the New York State Comptroller, who referred it to the State Police. Moran also ignores that Coll has no authority to direct the police to bring charges or make an arrest. It is curious that Moran focuses only on Golub and doesn’t even try to explain the similar charges against O’Neill

Commissioner Moran’s Attacks on Coll and SSPD:

“It should be deeply troubling to everyone that the Public Safety Commissioner Coll and the Saratoga Springs Police Department intend to charge former city Commissioner Jason Golub with a crime based on a jug of Drano and a clogged sink,” Moran said. “This is more about the city’s law enforcement priorities and suspect motivations. We have reached a new low in the city.”

Times Union November 7, 2024

I have to admit, Mike Brandi’s obsession with me is flattering. Unfortunately what we are dealing with is a pattern of attacks on former Commissioner Golub by Tim Coll the citizen and Tim Coll the DPS Commissioner.

“No further comment” isn’t an acceptable response to the intentional personal destruction he is causing. [JK: It is inappropriate for public officials to engage in public comment in an ongoing investigation. A lesson that Commissioner Moran has never learned.]

We need to ask, why are you attacking this man for a second time?

Moran’s Facebook Page

City Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran also issued a statement on the matter calling it “deeply troubling” that Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll and the police department intend to charge Golub with a crime based on this.

“This is more about the City’s law enforcement priorities and suspect motivations. We have reached a new low in the City.”

“It is my understanding that the AG is already aware of and looking into this,” he added.

Channel 13 News

Abuse Is Abuse

I ran the federally funded Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council (now LifeWorks Community Action) for sixteen years. I fully understood that as the chief executive, I could not cross a line by using employees under me to do any work for me personally.

Apparently, Moran has no such inhibitions. If he feels it was OK for his fellow Commissioner to use public employees to do work on his private home, one has to ask, what “minor” uses of public resources does Moran feel he is eligible for?

It is unconscionable for Moran to use the reasonable application of the law in the case of Golub and O’Neill for acts Moran does not dispute happened to try to smear Commissioner Coll and the police by alleging that they have some unnamed, nefarious agenda.

As a registered Democrat, I find it even more troubling that the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee promotes Moran’s narrative on their Facebook page. When did my party decide that it is perfectly ok for elected officials to have their employees perform personal services for them? Are there no committee members willing to insist on a re-examination of this decline in ethics?

Today, November 7, 2024, the Saratoga Springs Office of Public Safety issued a press release stating that on November 1, 2024, the Saratoga Springs Police Department issued appearance tickets to former Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub and Public Works Deputy Joe O’Neill to appear in City Court on November 21, 2024.

The press release states that the two men have been charged with “Official Misconduct” under NYS Penal Law 195(1), a Class A misdemeanor.

The charges arose from the alleged use of city employees to work on private residences, in Golub’s case, his home. An earlier blog post documented the facts of this case.

Class A Misdemeanor

In New York, a Class A misdemeanor is the most serious type of misdemeanor charge. A conviction for a Class A misdemeanor can result in:

• A fine
• Community service
• Up to one year in jail
• Probation
• Driver’s license suspension
• State surcharges
• An order of protection 

Some examples of Class A misdemeanors include:

• Assault in the third degree
• Petit larceny
• Theft of services
• Unauthorized use of a computer
• Forcible touching
• Criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 7th degree
• Resisting arrest 

Misdemeanors are less serious than felonies, but a conviction can still have consequences. For example, a misdemeanor conviction can make it difficult to get certain jobs or attend college. 

The October public workshops on the Saratoga Springs proposed budget have exposed a shocking level of ignorance on the part of the city’s Finance Department and Commissioner Minita Sanghvi. It is not an exaggeration to say the proposed budget looks like a group of uninformed bureaucrats cavalierly went through expense items and simply crossed them off based on their titles. Yes, it is that bad.

Highlighting the poverty of the research done to put this budget together, Sanghvi’s proposed budget included cuts to items that would violate city contracts and the terms of grants the city has received. You would think that Commissioner Sanghvi would be embarrassed when, during the workshops, she was told over and over that she could not make cuts because they violated contracts or the terms of grants. Instead, Commissioner Sanghvi simply acknowledged them without apology or explanation and, in some cases, indicated they would be restored.

During the workshops Sanghvi also asked questions that further exposed both her ignorance of the city’s finances and her failure to do due diligence prior to the workshops.

Sanghvi’s predecessor, Michele Madigan, and her Budget Director, Lynn Bachner, required the departments to submit their proposed budgets in August. For the next two months, Ms. Bachner would meet with the deputies of all the departments to rigorously review the requests and thoroughly inform herself and Commissioner Madigan of the merits of what the departments were seeking.

In contrast, it is embarrassingly clear by Sanghvi’s questions at the workshops that she was unfamiliar with why departments were asking to include particular items in the budget. Sanghvi came to these workshops thoroughly unprepared. THIS IS TOO LATE IN THE GAME, AS ANYONE WATCHING THE WORKSHOPS CAN SEE. A workshop is supposed to be the final opportunity for departments to make their case for restoring cuts discussed in previous meetings. If the Commissioner of Finance is unaware of the legal requirements of items, what does that tell you about the quality of her analysis as to what should be approved?

As the following videos document, she asks questions that should have been asked and answered well before these fall workshops. In the video with Deputy Mayor Joanne Kiernan, Sanghvi asks whether the city pays for professional memberships. Sanghvi asks whether “we pay for that (travel and training at conferences) for land-use board members and their alternates?” “What’s mandatory?” “How many building inspectors do we have?” “So six building inspectors have mandatory education?” “Is that online or in a specific place?”

I could go on with many quotes from Sanghvi with questions that should have been addressed before drafting her proposed budget. How did she decide to slash the professional development moneys without first having the answers to these questions?

Sanghvi’s Imperious Power

In this video clip from the October 19, 2024, workshop, Sanghvi advises Deputy Mayor Joanne Kiernan of the Finance Department’s authority. She dismisses Kiernan’s request that they meet to discuss the cuts.

“You Choose the Priority”

Sanghvi severely cut the professional development budget for the Mayor to $800.00. This money is supposed to provide professional development training for twenty professionals who work in the Planning Office and Building Department, twenty-one land-use board members, and six alternates. Land use regulations and standards are constantly changing due to litigation and new legislation. For the Planning Office to effectively address the many land-use issues the city must deal with, they must purchase materials and attend training events.

As a sign of just how out of touch Sanghvi is, she asks whether the members of the land-use boards could pay for their training materials. The members of these boards must already spend hours preparing for and deliberating at meetings. Kiernan points out that these people are volunteers. They must receive training to function. Requiring them to pay for their training would be unreasonable.

Just a Few Of The Many Cuts That Would Be Violations

The city receives grant money for a program to address DWI (Driving While Intoxicated). Sanghvi included the revenue for this program in her budget but eliminated the expenses this money was to pay for.

Public Safety dispatchers must update their training annually to maintain their certification. Sanghvi eliminated the money to pay for this training.

These are just a few of the many cuts that conflict with the regulations under which this city must operate.

It Might Be Time For Commissioner Sanghvi To Prioritize

Commissioner Sanghvi may have too much on her plate. She has a full-time professorship, a family, and a city position as head of the Department of Finance. She writes and promotes her romance novels and is running for the State Senate.

Her previous budgets all had tax increases (in fact, she unknowingly exceeded the tax cap last year). For some reason, this year, she is suddenly insistent that the budget does not involve a tax increase. I do not think it is coincidental that her sudden fiscal austerity coincides with her run this year for the New York State Senate.

Inadequate Reporting

The inadequacy of this budget is an extension of the poverty of her reporting on expenses during the year.

The Comptroller issued a working paper outlining the standards for reporting on spending. Commissioner Sanghvi simply ignores these simple standards.

At Council meetings, Commissioner Sanghvi recites amounts spent under various categories. No document has been provided to the Council with these numbers. Most serious is her failure to produce numbers with “meaningful indicators.” One thing is for sure: her Council reports do not tell the members of the Council or the public what they need to know about the city’s finances, namely: “Where have we been?” “Where are we now?” or “Where are we going?”

At a minimum, the public and the Council would need a spreadsheet that uses the city’s adopted budget to help them understand whether we are overspending, underspending, or right on target. The raw numbers she provides are useless.

From The Comptroller’s Office:

Dire Consequences

Undoubtedly, the costs of retirement and health care will increase, placing great strain on the city. The Safer Grant that resulted in hiring sixteen firefighters is currently covering their salaries, but the grant requires the city to pick up the cost of these positions when the grant ends. Sanghvi projects the cost of covering these positions as $1,700,000.00 per year. This is on top of the million-dollar increase in the city’s annual liability insurance caused by the mishandling of risk and safety by former Mayor Ron Kim and current Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran.

Controlling costs is not easy, but it can only be achieved by strengthening the Department of Finance’s monitoring and analysis of costs.

This blog documents that the current department headed by Commissioner Sanghvi is simply unable to fulfill this obligation.

Let me close this blog by reminding readers that the on-call scandal could only have occurred because the Department of Finance not only failed to flag this disaster but that Commissioner Sanghvi herself approved improperly paying her own Deputy for being “on-call.” Commissioner Sanghvi has steadfastly refused to acknowledge her failure in this matter. If she grossly mishandled this obvious misuse of public money, what would that tell us about her overall operation of the Finance Department?

I am confident this city will eventually survive this incompetence, but we have some challenging times ahead.

While the special election to fill the Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Works vacancy is now set for January 28, 2025, it now appears that only one candidate, a Republican, will be on the ballot.

Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran, a Democrat, was granted his wish to manage the special election to fill the Commissioner of Public Works vacancy. As noted in an earlier post, at the October 15 Council meeting, he was authorized to work with the Saratoga County Board of Elections to arrange for the election. Also, at that City Council meeting, Moran submitted a resolution to the Council, making January 28, 2025, the date for the special election. The Council supported him and passed his resolution unanimously.

Moran then crafted a “Special Election Political Calendar.”

According to this calendar, political parties were required to submit a “Certification For Nomination” by October 25 to get their endorsed candidates on the ballot for the January 28 special election. Moran’s calendar required candidates to accept or decline the nomination by October 27.

Unfortunately for Moran and the Democratic Committee, they did not submit a “Certificate For Nomination” by the required date to get their endorsed candidate, Sarah Burger, on the ballot.

In contrast, the Republican Committee submitted the certification for its Commissioner of Public Works candidate on October 25, and its candidate submitted his acceptance on October 27.

So, as it stands, only one candidate will be on the ballot on January 28, 2025, and that person will be Chuck Marshal, the Republican.

The Documents