The Saratoga Springs City Council took a brief recess during their July 1, 2025, meeting. During that time Mayor John Safford left the room and Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi chose this time to go through his papers on the Council table and photograph them.
While she was photographing the papers, Public Works Commissioner Chuck Marshall returned to his place at the Council table next to the Mayor’s seat. Assuming that she was discovered, Sanghvi told Marshall, “Now I won’t have to ask him.”
I ask the reader, can you imagine Sanghvi’s reaction if she found the Mayor, uninvited, taking pictures of her papers?
I wrote to Commissioner Sanghvi, asking her to explain this incident. I received the following email back.
Hello. Thank you for your email. As this is a part time position, I do not check my email everyday.
If you need an immediate response- kindly contact the Deputy Commissioner of Finance, Heather Crocker.
Some may remember the Foothills Business Daily, which journalist Steve Thurston created. He and Abby Tegnelia have launched a new site to report on Saratoga Springs. We need as many critical news sources as possible to help address the decline of traditional newspapers. Please support this latest entry.
Saratoga Dispatch
Abby Tegnelia and Steve Thurston realize there is still a deep need for daily journalism based in Saratoga Springs. With encouragement from some key business leaders in the greater Spa City area, Abby and Steve thought they would make a pretty good team since Abby was most recently the editor and publisher of Saratoga Living and knows the arts, lifestyle and food and drink community intimately. Before that, she worked at other magazines, including major national ones such as the Robb Report, Huffington Post and Marie Claire. Steve, on the other hand, has focused his time over the past five years in the area on harder news, covering city government, business, and breaking news, first for his own publication FoothillsBusinessDaily.com and then as the editor of the Post-Star in Glens Falls, his hometown. His professional life has focused on teaching about and writing local news. They are equal business partners and are working a business model that they believe is the future of local news.
[Many thanks to Barbara Lombardo for contributing her research and commentary to this blog. Barbara has owned a home on Park Place for over 40 years and until2015 was the longtime editor of the Saratogian]
Vincent and Katherine LaTerra are seeking approval to build a massive structure on the corner of Park Street and Cottage Street in a neighborhood of modest homes. For the neighbors, to say the least, this oversized project is not welcomed.
Neighbors Object
Although there are other design issues, the neighbors’ main concern is the mass and scale of the proposed building. Neighbors have appeared regularly before both the Planning Board and the Design Review Board and others have written to the Boards to urge that the project be reduced in size to be more consistent with the other homes adjacent to it. It is opposed by pretty much everyone living in the neighborhood surrounding the project.
An Elephant Squeezed Into a Shower Stall
The LaTerras are proposing to put up a three story 6 unit 18,500 sq foot condo building. The following is a list of homes on the adjacent properties in the neighborhood along with their respective square footage (sf). The numbers were researched by neighborhood resident Jason Thorud who lives immediately across the street from the proposed project. The chart below provides a sense of the extreme size of the project in relation to its neighbors.
21 Park Street 566sf
20 Park Street 1865sf
22 Park Street 1621sf
23 Park Street 2264sf
24 Park Street 1559sf
31 Park Street 2357sf
7 Cottage Street 3828sf
10 Cottage Street 1806sf
12 Cottage Street 1900sf
14 Cottage Street 1504sf
LaTera Project 18,500 sf
An Abuse Of Comparisons
The applicant went to great lengths to have a building designed that echoed the architectural style of Victorian era buildings scattered around Saratoga Springs. He argued that the size and mass of his proposed building is consistent with other similar buildings in the city. The problem is that none of the examples offered of buildings of similar architectural style and size are comparable because they exist in surroundings very different from the neighborhood where the LaTerra’s wish to build.
Neighborhood resident Barbara Lombardo took the time to visit all the buildings that were supposed to demonstrate that this project was perfectly appropriate for the Park Street parcel. Her photos below document that the comparability asserted by the developer is not credible. All the other buildings of similar scale, whether historic or contemporary, are situated in very different surroundings from the neighborhood the LaTerra’s building would be plopped down in the middle of.
A Troubling Role Performed by Samantha Bosshart, the Executive Director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation
In response to the neighbors’ concern about the mass and scale of the project, the Planning Board referred the project to the city’s Design Review Board for an advisory opinion on whether the scale and mass of the proposed building was appropriate for the neighborhood. The Board received Ms. Lombardo’s photographs and comments, Jason Thorud presented his sq ft analysis and all the other neighbors who spoke were all in agreement that the project as designed was problematic.
In the two meetings that the project was discussed by the DRB, only one person spoke in favor of the building proposal-Samantha Bosshart , the executive director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. Vince LaTerra, the owner of the property, is on Ms. Bosshart’s board.
It would seem odd that Ms. Bosshart would weigh in on this project other than the fact that LaTerra is on her Board which she freely admitted. The location is not in a historic district. While the neighborhood has some historic homes dating back to the nineteenth century some are more contemporary, and there are a wide variety of architectural styles. Yet Ms.Bosshart felt the need to weigh in as the only voice in support of the LaTerras, repeating all the arguments the applicant had made even though the Design Review Board did not ask for her opinion.
Clearly her unsolicited opinion carried weight, however, as five of the seven DRB members ignored the comments and evidence presented by the neighbors and asserted they were just fine with the mass and scale of the LaTerra’s proposed building.
The Project Is Consistent With The Zoning
The property is situated in a UR-4 district, which permits multi-family zoning. The issue is not whether the owners should be allowed to build a multi-family structure, but whether squeezing every inch out of the property to construct a massive building is appropriate to the neighborhood. The proposal now goes back to the Planning Board which has some latitude in making adjustments to the site plan. Hopefully, it will see fit to address the neighbors’ concerns.
Here Are Ms. Lombardo’s Photos Exposing the Dubious Analysis Promoted by Ms. Bosshart and the DRB that the Scale of the Project Is Compatible with the Neighborhood and Her Analysis of the Proposal
Woodlawn Avenue
Near Van Dam St, across from a parking lot.
Nelson Avenue
Behind Brook Tavern. It’s on its own block, north of Brook Tavern, and much less deep than the proposal. The Regent Street ones are also less deep.
Regent Street
Between Phila and Caroline – green space on one side, tall multi-family on the other.
Clinton Street
Near Church Street, across from a parking lot and a commercial building.
Circular Street
At Swanner Lane, north of Lake Ave, past the funeral home. Note green on sides, parking in rear, less deep than the proposal.
Ellsworth Condos
These are on Division. Less tall, less deep, less wide – there is a space between buildings after three units. Less imposing.
Barbara Lombardo’s Analysis
The city Planning Board is considering two related applications down the block from me: First, to subdivide a .9-acre property on the corner of Park Place and Cottage Street into two lots, with the back .5 acres containing a house accessed via Cottage Street. Second, to fill the vacant .4 acres fronting Park Place end-to-end with an 18,500-square-foot, three-story, six-unit condo building.
The brick row-house-style proposal is handsome – but not for this location, or at least not without resolving addressing significant site plan issues, some of which are tied to its mass.
What recourse do we neighbors have?
The application by Vince and Katherine LaTerra develops every inch of the property as permitted by the site’s UR-4 multi-family zoning for that block. So no Zoning Board involvement is required. However, they do need approval from the Planning Board, whose role is to consider mundane but highly significant site plan details for new, multi-family development.
Nothing on this residential part of the three-block-long Park Place and one-block-long Cottage Street approaches the proposal’s mass, scale and height. More than two dozen neighbors, including me, have written and spoken out against it, primarily for those reasons, along with raising site plan concerns about trash storage and removal, National Grid transformers, snow removal, parking, traffic flow and landscaping.
The Planning Board asked the Design Review Board for an advisory opinion on the mass, scale, height and neighborhood compatibility. The DRB last month issued a 5-2 opinion in favor of the applicant. The vote followed objections by neighbors and my presentation of photos showing that none of a handful of similar buildings around the city are plopped in the middle of a residential street. The vote also followed one neighbor’s letter, which apparently went unread or at least unheeded, citing the enormity of the project compared to the square footage of neighboring residential structures.
More persuasive to the DRB was the Preservation Foundation’s full-throated endorsement of the project’s design, mass and scale – along with the acknowledgement that one foundation board member recused himself from the matter: Vince LaTerra, the project applicant. Also, the applicant made some design modifications to the DRB’s overall satisfaction: promising four entries instead of just two on Park Place, and reconfiguring the mansard roof windows.
Still, not everything is totally hunky-dory, even with the DRB members.
The DRB “encourages” the applicant to make the side and back façade more visually appealing. And it calls it “imperative” that high-quality materials be used to “further enhance and promote the look of individual residences.” Hopefully, the Planning Board will address these points and the DRB will follow up on them.
When they bought the property a couple of years ago, they immediately installed a tall, sight-blocking vinyl fence around the entire site, shutting themselves off except for their driveway on Cottage Street. They failed to keep the sidewalks free of snow, allowed brush to overgrow on the sidewalks, and removed trees. And they proposed a structure as wide as legally allowed, knowing the west side of the building will overwhelm a historically renovated adjacent single-family house. So I’m skeptical when the owners claim to care about the neighborhood.
I’m also skeptical about their application drawings, which show trees on Park Place, when in reality the street will have power poles and wires. What else in the plans are merely aspirational?
Many questions remain regarding Cottage Street. Where are trash and recycling containers for six units going to lined up for pickup? Where will the transformer pad for electrical service be located? How will ice and snow be handled for the sidewalks and for the ramp to basement-level parking in the U-shaped building? Where will plowed snow be placed? How will parking spaces fit, and how will vehicular access in and out of Cottage Street look and work? How will the owner physically and visually separate the newly subdivided property?
Though the zoning indicates this block is right for multi-family housing, there is no pressing demand to “enhance” the neighborhood with million-dollar-plus condos. It would be regrettable to have a building with basically no green space, unlike almost every existing residence on Park Place and Cottage Street. I’ve been cautioned that what could be built there could be worse, but let’s set a higher bar.
I remain hopeful that the Planning Board will address the site plan issues, and that the applicant, whose drawings demonstrate thought and suggest quality work, will modify their project to better fit on this block, where I’ve lived for more than 40 years.
Former Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub and his lawyer, Karl Sleight, have promoted the narrative that City Court Judge Jeffery Wait’s recent dismissal of the case against Golub for “Official Misconduct” exonerated Golub and that Golub was a victim who, for unknown reasons, was the subject of a great injustice. This is hardly the case.
Regrettably, the media has provided them an uncritical venue to spread this false narrative.
The Times Union quoted Sleight: “As I said from the beginning, these charges were completely baseless. Today’s decision confirms that fact.”
WNYT television featured Golub saying, “These trumped-up charges have been a heavy burden for me and my family to carry for the past 10 months. The weaponization of law enforcement against me for political or personal reasons should be gravely concerning to everyone.”
However, even the most cursory reading of Judge Wait’s decision exposes the futility of their attempt at spin.
A Faulty Criminal Charge That Can Easily Be Corrected Is No Exoneration
The charges against Golub stem from a December 2023 incident when city workers performed work on their boss’s, Jason Golub’s, private residence. Golub was charged with “Official Misconduct”, a misdemeanor.
City Court Judge Jeff Wait’s decision asserts that the document charging Golub was “deficient” because it didn’t address whether Golub knew that the city employees working on his sink were on city time.
In legal terms, Judge Wait’s dismissal was “without prejudice.” If it had been dismissed “with prejudice,” then Golub would be cleared because no further legal action could be taken against him. As it was “without prejudice,” it meant that Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen could simply resubmit the charge, amending it to explain why the prosecution believed Golub was aware of the impropriety of using the city plumbers.
So the basis of the dismissal was an easily corrected technical error.
While Heggen told the press that she believed her original complaint was legally correct, she declined to resubmit a corrected complaint for some unexplained reason. To say that her decision was deeply disappointing would be an understatement. Golub’s lawyer did not introduce any new evidence that would have provided some rationale for her decision not to pursue the case. If DA Heggen believed the charges were justified, it is difficult to understand why she did not continue to carry forward the prosecution.
Golub Never Paid The Plumber
Like the telltale question in the Sherlock Holmes story- why didn’t the dog bark in the night?-The prosecution might have asked Golub at trial, “Why didn’t you pay the plumbers?”
If Golub believed the city employees working on his sink were not on the clock, and thus not being paid by the city, why didn’t he offer to pay them? Did Golub think that the work being done on his house was free? Why did Golub think that Ken Dooley, whom he didn’t know, would fix his sink for free?
Ken Dooley, the city plumber, told the police he was ordered to appear at the Golub house not once but twice. We know that Golub was present both times.
In fact, on one of the visits there, Dooley was accompanied not only by Deputy Commissioner O’Neil but also by another DPW employee.
Are we to believe that Golub, who has a law degree from Columbia University, had three city employees come to his home to fix his sink, yet it never crossed his mind that they might be on city time? Why did he not bother to ask? If he just assumed they were not on the clock and being paid by the city, why didn’t he offer to pay them?
There are two possibilities. One possibility is that he felt so privileged that he never thought he was responsible for paying anyone. I guess that would make him innocent of the charge, but it would reflect poorly on him first as a lawyer who should have known better and second on being a thoughtless, ungenerous, and privileged human being.
The second possibility, of course, was that he knew they were there under O’Neil’s direction, were on city time, and were being paid anyway, so he did not need to reach into his own pocket. Of course, that would make him guilty of official misconduct.
Whatever the truth of his motivation for not paying for the work done at his private residence, the basic fact is that he should never have had Dooley and the others come to his house to perform a repair in the first place. A more ethical person in Golub’s shoes would have at least conceded that he used poor judgment in not inquiring about whether his employees were on the clock, and the entire matter should never have happened. Instead, he and his lawyer have dared to play the victim in all of this. They blame everyone but Golub for being charged.
Golub dismisses the idea that he bears any responsibility for this mess.
He and his lawyer continue to claim that Tim Coll somehow magically convinced state agencies to investigate false claims against Jason vindictively.
He blames his deputy, Joe O’Neill, for what happened. According to Golub’s logic, it was O’Neill’s fault for not warning him that Dooley was helping him on city time.
I guess Golub should also blame Dooley for irresponsibly coming to his home on city time and fixing his drain without warning Golub.
Golub’s arrogance in playing the victim reflects very poorly on him and again testifies to his sense of privilege and arrogance.
Jason Golub is, apparently, unfamiliar with the concept of responsibility.
Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran’s belligerent and toxic behavior has been documented repeatedly in this blog over the past three-plus years he has been in office. Still, his out of control behavior at the June 16, 2025, City Council pre-agenda meeting descended to new lows.
The trigger for Moran seemed to be an item Mayor John Safford had placed on his agenda removing the language that authorized on-call pay for the city’s deputies. The on-call pay debacle has been documented in earlier posts. It involved among other issues allegations that city documents had been altered, a State Police investigation, and Moran hiring a lawyer for $1,250 an hour that he expected the city to pay for. Safford’s proposal to take on call pay off the books was something Finance Commissioner, and Dillon ally, Minita Sanghvi had called for months ago making Moran’s fury even more bizarre.
Moran: “I am Beyond Rage”
In this excerpt from the meeting Moran makes snarky and opaque references to some kind of collusion and other alleged grievances he suffered related to the State Police On Call Pay investigation. Don’t worry if you can’t follow everything he is saying.
Dillon Ain’t Sayin’
Resolutions and actions to be considered at City Council meetings are supposed to be posted on the city website the Friday before the Tuesday meeting. This is supposed to give both the members of the Council and the public time to read and digest the proposed actions to prepare for the Tuesday meeting.
Council members convene on the Monday morning before the Council’s Tuesday night meetings for a “pre-agenda” meeting. At this meeting, they are supposed to be prepared to answer questions about and/or clarify items they have placed on their agendas to further help members prepare for the regular meeting’s deliberations.
Moran has been a serial violator of this policy, presenting resolutions at the Council table that the public and his colleagues are unaware of til the last minute.
At the June 16 meeting, Moran taunted his colleagues (and, in effect, the public) saying that he will not reveal his plans for the regular Council meeting ahead of time. In his fury, he seems oblivious to his responsibility to be transparent so that citizens are adequately informed, and he has no concept of how important courtesy is in properly carrying out the people’s business.
The Unedited Dillon Moran
Here are the full unedited sections of Dillon Moran’s rants at the meeting.
Post Script
There were no fireworks at the Tuesday night, June 17, Council meeting.
At Moran’s request, Mayor Safford pulled from Tuesday’s agenda the resolution to remove On-Call. Moran has indicated for a year and a half that he would craft a repeal of on-call pay. He will get the opportunity to do that at the next Council meeting. Stay tuned.
The thing that is most disturbing about the leadership of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee is how cavalier they are about the truth especially when it could damage their target’s personal or professional reputations.
A case in point is a release issued by city and state Democratic Committee member Gordon Boyd. The release announces that he has supposedly discovered, in reviewing election documents, that the signatures of Joe Suhrada, who chairs the county Republican Party, and Jennifer Weaver, secretary of the County Republican Committee, appear to him to be identical. The logic being that the signatures may have been forged. He also writes that Charles A. Foehser, the First Deputy Clerk of Saratoga County, notarized these signatures, meaning that Froehser may have falsely claimed to have observed the signing of the documents by the named officials.
Boyd’s release included letters to the New York State Attorney General’s and Secretary of State’s offices asking them to investigate. The purpose of those letters is to amplify his story and get press coverage.
“When I looked at them, the signatures jumped out to me as way too similar. Being a notary myself, I know you’re not allowed to have signatures on something you didn’t see signed. You have to see a human being sign it and then you can notarize it,” said Boyd. “To my eye, it appears that the same hand signed for both the chairman and secretary of the party. It also appears that the purported signature of the chairman does not look like his official signature on file with the Board of Elections.
The reality is that if Boyd could find a newspaper or television station to publish his unsubstantiated claims, these grave accusations would raise doubts with the public about the integrity of Suhrada, Weaver, and Foehser, and by extension, the candidates named in the documents they signed.
It is no coincidence that three of the documents referenced in his release refer to candidates endorsed by One Saratoga, whom Boyd opposes.
Here are four of the documents that Boyd submitted to the state agencies.
The first two contain what he claims may be forgeries, along with the notarization by Froehser.
I don’t claim to have expertise in handwriting. I would observe, though, that Weaver ends her initials with a long horizontal slash, which is simply my untutored observation.
Mike Brandi, chair of the Saratoga Springs Republican Committee, has written to Boyd, demanding that he retract his letters and release and issue a formal apology.
Brandi included the following documents in his response to Boyd.
Does Boyd have suspicions that Weaver or Suhrada forged each other’s Driver’s licenses?
Does Boyd suspect that Weaver had Suhrada sign her passport?
Did Weaver sign Suhrada’s tax form?
An Inquiry To Gordon Boyd
I wrote to Gordon Boyd asking what research he did to substantiate his suspicions other than observing a handful of forms.
His disingenuous response:
I have made no such determination. I have merely asked the Secretary of State to investigate. If you were a real journalist and not such a party activist, you probably would have read more carefully.
gmb
It’s Called Being Responsible
One key question that Boyd might have considered was what the motive would have been to forge these documents. The fact that there was no apparent explanation should have at least raised the need for further investigation before going to the press if Boyd’s concerns were sincere.
It is not totally unreasonable for him to seek help from state agencies if he was indeed truly concerned about these signatures. The logic, then, would have been, though, to wait for their opinion before going to the press
Of course, this would mean he was interested in the truth rather than an opportunity to smear these three people and make it into the news cycle. It also would have meant that he maintained a high ethical standard by not wishing to bring undue embarrassment to these people if they were innocent.
It should be noted that Michele Madigan immediately enthusiastically congratulated Boyd on his press release, praising him, saying, “Nothing gets by Gordon Boyd.”
This incident is just another example of why this city needs One Saratoga.
Another Example Of The Failure of Today’s Journalism
Journalists are not supposed to be uncritical stenographers. Good journalists investigate so they can assist their readers in determining the truth between conflicting claims.
In this case, all Boyd had was a suspicion. It is incredible that the Daily Gazette would print a story with virtually no serious proof to support it. This is not journalism. It is a quest for clicks.
According to the article, Dimopoulos’s only additional investigation was an unsuccessful attempt to reach Joe Suhrada. What about the other two people being accused? Didn’t they deserve to tell their side of this story? Couldn’t Dimopoulos have asked for other documents with signatures that might have shed light on this story?
It is instructive that no other major media newspaper or television station viewed Boyd’s allegations as deserving of coverage. Even Wendy Liberatore didn’t bother. Only the Gazette.
Brandi has provided the documents disproving Boyd’s claim to the Daily Gazette, which was once an excellent newspaper. It is discouraging that they will leave Boyd’s story standing without printing Brandi’s rebuttal and evidence.
On May 22, 2025, Courtney DeLeonardis, chair of One Saratoga, filed petitions with the Saratoga County Board of Elections to get a ballot line for its endorsed candidates to run in the upcoming November city elections. The following day, May 23, 2025, Otis Maxwell, chair of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, filed a general objections form, challenging the validity of One Saratoga’s petitions. Maxwell had six days to register specific challenges to individual petitions. Dillon Moran began telephoning people who had and signed or witnessed One Saratoga petitions questioning them in an attempt to uncover fraud. He failed. On May 29, Ms. DeLeonardis was advised by the Saratoga County Board of Elections that no challenges to individual petitions had been filed. One Saratoga’s seven candidates would be on the ballot.
Gathering Petition Signatures Is Not Easy
Gathering signatures has become increasingly difficult every year. Ring doorbells and the general degrading of civil society has meant that citizens are increasingly reluctant to open their doors. [Full disclosure I participated in gathering signatures, and I can testify to how many doorbells one must ring to get a signature, so the success of One Saratoga is truly extraordinary.]
Here are the total number of signatures collected by the city’s two major political parties and those collected by One Saratoga.
Democrat 641
Republican 375
One Saratoga 1,156
So, One Saratoga’s fifty volunteers gathered more signatures than the two main parties combined. This is further proof of One Saratoga’s strength and commitment.
Press Release From One Saratoga
For Immediate Release
June 2, 2025
Courtney DeLeonardis
One Saratoga Secures an Independent Line on November Ballot
One Saratoga chair Courtney DeLeonardis announced that more than 50 volunteers from all political persuasions gathered nearly 1,200 signatures to successfully secure an independent line on the November 2025 ballot for the Saratoga Springs city elections. The number of signatures gathered far exceeds the 631 required to secure the line and was more than that obtained by the major political parties in the city combined.
Since its formation in 2019, One Saratoga has always endorsed the best qualified individuals to govern Saratoga Springs, regardless of their party affiliation. With their non-partisan line on the ballot, they seek to provide an alternative for those who may be discouraged by the divisiveness and rancor of partisan politics.
One Saratoga has always held firm to the idea of “City before Party” and their endorsed candidates include Democrats, Republicans, and a candidate with no party affiliation.
DeLeonardis said, “It is not because of their political affiliation that we chose them but, instead, because they are the best individuals to lead, and because they will always put service to our great City before any political party.”
One Saratoga’s endorsed candidates are:
John Safford for Mayor;
JoAnne Kiernan for Commissioner of Finance;
Jessica Troisi for Commissioner of Accounts;
Chuck Marshall for Commissioner of Public Works;
Tim Coll for Commissioner of Public Safety;
Sarah Burger for County Supervisor; and
George Ehinger for County Supervisor.
More information about One Saratoga’s endorsed candidates can be found at realonesaratoga.org.
I would like to acknowledge the courage of two Saratoga Springs Department of Public Works employees who dared to be whistleblowers about corruption in the department.
Truly Stunning And Brazen Corruption
In the summer of 2024, Department of Public Works Supervisor J.J. Nichols supervised the paving of Grand Avenue and a few connecting streets. Funding for this was to come from the federal C.H.I.P.S. program. During this project, Mr. Nichols abused his position by directing city employees to do work on his own driveway. This is not in dispute. In addition, he did work on two other private driveways at a cost of thousands of dollars. The improper work done on these two driveways appears to have been conveniently ignored by the Department of Public Works, which was under Commissioner Jason Golub at the time. Any work done by city employees on private property requires a signed contract with the city. There are no contracts for these ghost houses. One improperly paved house is not even located on the streets designated for the grant.
The city police began investigating Nichols, but the investigation was halted when the city’s Human Resources Department advised that the situation had been investigated and that the responsible individual had been disciplined.
In fact, based on city documents obtained under FOIL, there are no records in the Department of Public Works of any investigation being carried out. In addition, then acting Public Works Commissioner Hank Kuczynski’s “discipline” of Nichols was a painless gesture whose main impact was to allow the police to consider the matter dealt with. The result was that the events, including the established wrongdoing by Nichols, remained hidden from the public.
This blog is meant to report on what has occurred and document the many serious, outstanding questions that remain unanswered today.
Kuczynski Stonewalls
Several months ago, following his temporary appointment as DPW Commissioner, I texted Hank Kuczynski to inquire about his plans to address Nichols’ misuse of city personnel and materials to work on private property in the city. I referred him to an earlier post on the issue.
He did not respond.
Killing The Police Investigation
On December 10, the Saratoga Springs Police Department began investigating the improper work by interviewing a DPW worker who had delivered the paving material to one of the private residences.
On February 4, Police Department Lieutenant Paul Veitch reported that he had met with Kuczynski and Human Resources Director Christy Spadoro and had agreed to pause the Police investigation pending an internal city investigation, as that would lead to quicker results.
Veitch’s report indicates that on January 15, Human Resources advised him that the matter “was investigated and discipline meted out.” Veitch then communicated this to the Assistant District Attorney, who decided not to pursue the case further.
The problem is that there was no formal investigation that would have involved all the properties that Nichols illegally did.
HR’s Communication To Veitch Claiming The Matter Had Already Been Investigated Is Not Supported By Documents Released Under FOIL.
The FOIL documents I received included forms, affidavits, and an actual summary showing that the Police had begun what a reasonable person would characterize as an actual “investigation.” In contrast, according to the FOIL request, no such documents were available from the Department of Public Works. (See the FOIL documents provided at the end of this post)
The city FOIL produced:
A memo listing the city codes violated by Nichols sent by the Human Resources Department
a disciplinary agreement between the city, the union representing Nichols, and Nichols
An affidavit from a DPW employee who delivered paving materials to the private job sites from the police department
An interview by Police Officer Steven Childs with an employee who delivered paving materials to the private job sites
A report written by Lieutenant Paul Veitch on the aborted police investigation.
What’s missing are records of who did the work on the three driveways, the amount of time devoted to this work, or the amount of city-owned and federal grant-funded materials used. In addition, the city could not produce any contract authorizing the work. Without this information, it is difficult to determine precisely how much public money was improperly expended.
Based on the city’s $20.00 per square foot standard for paving, my rough calculations show that the cost of this work could be north of $25,000.00, not including Nichols’ driveway. This dramatically surpasses the $1,000.00 minimum required to raise this to a felony level.
In the entire investigation of this incident, there is evidence that only one person was interviewed, the employee whom the Police interviewed who drove a truck that delivered some of the paving material to the private homes. There is no record of the police or anybody else questioning the whistleblowers, the homeowners, or even Mr. Nichols.
So, the SSPD and the Saratoga DA’s office halted investigations based on Kuczynski and the Human Resources Department’s false assurance that the matter had been fully investigated.
The Curse of the Missing Contracts
The Department of Public Works can perform work on private property. For example, a homeowner can contract with the city to put in sidewalks and adjust where their driveway meets the street. If the city is culpable for damage to private property, the homeowner may not be charged.
However, any work the city does on privately owned property requires a contract with the owner. This contract minimizes the city’s liability and establishes a clear record of what the city has agreed to do.
The following is a sample page from another contract. This contract page spells out the cost and scope of work. According to this document, the city currently charges $20.00 per square foot for paving.
So, why are there no contracts for Nichols’ driveway and the two additional private properties Nichols had paved?
If the work was really required to address problems on the homeowners’ properties caused by the city paving, why didn’t Nichols request the mandatory contracts? It’s simple enough to do.
Nichols, who has worked for the city for decades and has risen to a supervisory position, had to know why contracts were required and how simple it would be to comply.
In the meantime, who is responsible for paying for this work? What were the owners of these properties told as to why the city was paving their driveways? There are no records that any of this was pursued.
Who Knew And When Did They Know?
Judging by my discussions with the whistleblowers, Nichols’s improper work was widely known within the department. A key question is who, if anyone, in management beyond Nichols was aware of this?
Would Any Reasonable Observer Consider The “Discipline” Imposed By Kuczynski An Actual Discipline?
According to the documents I received, Nichols was found to be violating, among other policies, multiple sections of the city’s Ethics Code. In an agreement reached by Kuczynski with Nichols, Nichols admits that he “purposefully directed city employees…to use blacktop to patch potholes in his own private driveway on city time using city resources…” The City’s Human Resources Handbook states that an employee found to have committed these actions is subject to “corrective action, up to and including termination of employment.” Kuczynski punished Nichols by docking him one day’s pay ($330.00) and $75.45 “to reimburse the city for the cost of misused materials.”
Even here, Kuczynski cut a corner for Nichols. A ton of the paving materials cost $75.45, but Kuczynski conveniently forgot that it had to be delivered by a heavy dump truck. If you need a ton of paving materials delivered to your driveway, it will cost you more than $75.45.
More Stonewalling
On February 16, 2025, I emailed Commissioner Kuczynski asking how he arrived at Nichols’s punishment. He never acknowledged my email.
A “Punishment” That Can Disappear
As though the punishment was not weak in the first place, it includes language that if Nichols avoids any future disciplinary actions for the following six months, the record for his malfeasance will be expunged, and his actions in this matter cannot be used to determine future discipline. This clause displays how casually Kuczynski took Nichols’s theft of city resources and how much he protected him.
Apparently, if Nichols did this again after six months under Kuczynski, Kuczynski could issue another minor slap on the hand because he would have to pretend that this second violation of the city trust had no precedent.
No Further Remedy By The City
Unfortunately, the charter gives Commissioners broad authority to discipline employees in their departments; therefore, Kuczynski’s mishandling of this corruption does not violate the city charter. Given the formal agreement sanctioned by Nichols’ union, it appears the punishment for his improper work on his own driveway cannot be reconsidered. It is unclear, though, whether the additional two houses can be considered for further action against Nichols.
Sending The Wrong Message
Kuczynski’s failure to thoroughly investigate Nichols’s actions, culminating in basically no punishment, sent a chilling message to the Public Works Department employees, in general, and, in particular, to the two whistleblowers. That message is that if you enjoy the right status, you can ignore the city’s basic policies and procedures and use city resources for your own private gain or those of others who may be your friends or relatives without fear of significant consequences.
More Than Good Neighbors
There is an interesting link between Nichols and one of the homes whose driveway he did. The fortunate homeowner grew up living next door to the Nichols family.
A Dubious Explanation That Begs Credibility
The report by Lieutenant Paul Veitch included in the FOIL documents, offers a dubious defense for the paving of at least one of the private driveways.
“During the investigation, I spoke with supervisors in DPW that stated the work done on the [dedacted] driveway was needed to repair a sidewalk issue that was caused by workdone by DPW on the sidewalk. The reason that work would have been done on the [redacted] direveway was to account for the change in the roadway and having a water pooling issue if not corrected. [emphasis added]”
Bear in mind that there is no existing contract to do work on any of the properties that would establish the “reason” offered by DPW and accepted by Veitch. Notwithstanding what the police were told, there are no records regarding why or what work was done on the additional two houses. One of the houses was not even on a street to be paved.
The poverty of Veitch’s review is disheartening. He conveniently accepted the assurances without any skepticism. What adds to the questions surrounding this ugly business is that Paul Veitch is the brother of Mike Veitch, the highest-ranking full-time employee in the Department of Public Works. One must wonder whether he spoke of his brother when he wrote, “I spoke with supervisors in DPW. “
The Strange Case Of The Flooded Driveway
A picture from Google Earth (below) was taken of one of the driveways back in 2007. It documents that the driveway had severe drainage problems then. Was the paving ordered by Nichols to correct an issue that is possibly at least seventeen years old?
As noted earlier, if the city is responsible for damage to private property, it is liable for the repair. It is important to note that work done paving a street can create problems with the fringes of driveways where they intersect with the street, in which case, there is a legitimate reason for the city to correct them. For example, new paving could cause cars entering a driveway to bottom out.
But if this was a legitimate issue, why didn’t Nichols apply for a contract to fix it? Unfortunately, there are no records of the work done on these driveways, nor a formal explanation for why they were paved. It is important to remember that the city can legitimately do necessary work, but there needs to be a contract with the homeowner approved by the City Council. There is no record of a contract for this work.
The Houses (Not Including Nichols’s)
House #1
Here is the Google Earth Image of one of the driveways and a photograph this blogger took of the other.
Below is a photo taken by Google Earth back in 2007. It documents that this driveway had drainage problems seventeen years ago. How is it that the city is addressing a problem that is at least seventeen years old?
The area that was paved roughly measured 36′ by 21′.
At $20.00 per square foot, the cost would be $ 15,120.00.
More Than Neighborly
The owner of this house is a person whose family lived next door to the Nichols family. Nichols is roughly the same age as this person.
House #2
This is the house that is not on a street to be paved, displaying the new driveway surface and new sidewalk. There is no record of the city having a contract to perform this work.
As the road in front of the house was not to be paved, it is nonsensical to attribute faulty road work to explain the need to do the driveway.
Putting that aside, there is absolutely no way to explain why the city paved the area of the driveway above the sidewalk. How could the paving of the street (that was not to be paved) have had any impact on that area?
As documented earlier in this post, the city charges private property owners $20.00 per square foot for working on driveways.
A surveyor would be required to calculate the paved area accurately. This blogger did a rough calculation of the driveway. Regarding House #2, the apron in front of the walk, I estimated it at 12′ by 12′. At $20.00 per square foot, the cost would be $2,880.00.
The area above the walk is roughly 15′ by 25′, costing $7,500.
This would put the total for this job at roughly $10,380.00.
It is unclear when the walk that crosses the new paving was done. As recently as 2024, there was no sidewalk. If Nichols also did the sidewalk, that would add to the total.
The arrows mark the beginning and end of the new sidewalk.
So, when was this new sidewalk installed, and who paid for it? The documents I received do not provide any information.
The city spent roughly $25,500.00 on these two houses, plus whatever it cost to do Nichols’s driveway.
A Need For Action
Regrettably, it is more than likely that if the two whistleblowers had not exposed Nichols, nothing would have happened to him, and this kind of corruption would simply continue.
This does not reflect badly on the many city workers who keep our streets clean and our water running. The failure was in leadership.
With charges also brought against former Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub for misusing city employees, there appears to be a culture of tolerance for abuse.
The people of this city deserve the truth about what happened. The facts need to be reinvestigated thoroughly and transparently, and individuals responsible for any malfeasance held accountable.
The bulk of this post was completed several weeks ago. Below are some recent developments.
Potential For City Liability
As it turns out, while the city performed the work on Grand Avenue and St Charles Place back in July of 2024, they have yet to submit a claim for reimbursement. The CHIPS program is federal money, but it is managed in New York by the New York State Department of Transportation. The city still has an eighteen-month window to seek reimbursement, so plenty of time remains. The question to consider is, if these properties were improperly done using CHIPS money, how would this impact the city’s eligibility for funds in the future?
Public Works Commissioner Responds
I spoke with current Public Works Commissioner Chuck Marshall several times about this. Commissioner Marshall has been both available and transparent. He looked at the issue of the two houses that were done in addition to Nichols’s.
He acknowledged that there were no contracts for the work done on these driveways, and they were not included in DPW’s original investigation. He told me that it was essential that the city determine how much was spent on the driveways and ensure that these costs are not included when the city applies for the CHIPS money.
An Anecdote To Amuse
I sent a release to Wendy Liberatore at the Times Union, including this post’s text. She responded,
“I spoke to my editors.
We will not pursue as it happened nearly a year ago and no one, but you, seems overly concerned by the resolution.”
Of course, it’s an old story because it was successfully hidden from the public and never pursued by the press in all this time.
Saratoga Springs Politics 