One after the other, people from Saratoga Springs and the county, turned on their computer video cameras and unmuted themselves to tell the Saratoga Springs City Council to accept the 50 recommendations of the Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force as written. This included many people who asked that the city implement a Civilian Review Board to oversee the actions of the police.
"MLK Saratoga asks you to courageously choose to approve these recommendations as is,” said Leslie Dana, the co-chair of the civil rights group. “This is your defining moment, council."
Suzanne Kwasniewski said, "As a taxpayer, I want these things implemented. As a woman of faith, I want these things implemented. As a person of conscience I want these 50 points implemented."
Local activist Molly Dunn said that Darryl Mount, a bi-racial man who died under suspicious circumstances in 2013, has had his name mentioned in the news and in the task force report.
"Yet Darryl Mount's name does not appear once in the city council's proposed resolution,” she said, “It seems the city council has forgotten the reason why we are here." She urged them to adopt all resolutions.
For about 90 minutes, people spoke before the council, during a special meeting held to hear reaction to the police reform resolution before the council. The resolution is the official method through which the council affirms the work of the task force which wrote the report and which has 50 recommended changes for Saratoga Springs.
The council is required by an executive order to approve a resolution on police reform and send it to the state budget office by April 1 or risk losing state and federal aid. Although the people who spoke on Zoom supported the task force report, Commissioner of Public Safety Robin Dalton said that about 100 emails have come in, often not in support of the Civilian Review Board that activists say is central to overseeing the police.
City attorney Vincent DeLeonardis told the council after pubic comment that his choice of language in some areas of the resolution was incorrect.
"I understand from the comments this evening that there's some consternation with the words 'accept for consideration.' The use of those words was not intended to cause any consternation. I apologize for that." He said the resolution accepts all 50 of the task force’s recommendations, and that the chief should "provide for their implementation."
This language has been a point of contention as task force members and activists have said the wording does not have enough force behind it.
DeLeonardis added that in principle the council accepts the idea of a Civilian Review Board but in practice it might be very difficult, even impossible, to implement, given the city’s “unique” commission structure, in which there are five board members with equal weight on the council and one board member, the commissioner of public safety, oversees the police department.
"It should be noted that there could in theory be a civilian review board, established right now, not by the mayor, as proposed by the task force, but by the commissioner of public safety,” DeLeonardis said. “That board, though, would have no teeth." It would not have subpoena power or the right to hold legal hearings.
A strong CRB would require a change in the city charter and likely a public referendum on the CRB and the expense of making such a move.
Council members questioned him on this, with John Franck, commissioner of accounts, saying that it was best just to pass it and figure out how to make the CRB later.
Saying that it was clear to him that the people wanted this change, Franck said, “I think we're missing the point here. I think we pass it as is, and if there are legal ramifications, we'll figure it out."
At this point, the fur on the council flew as Mayor Meg Kelly accused him of bringing up troubles with the press, not with other council members. Dalton said although Franck has no history of working on the Daryl Mount case, despite being on the council in 2013, he is suddenly a champion of civilian oversight.
After each said their peace, Anthony “Skip” Scirocco, the commissioner of public works, said the council needs to acknowledge systemic racism, that changes such as those recommended by the task force are a long time coming.
The council agreed that to move forward to their final meeting on this subject next Wednesday, they were asking DeLeonardis to revise the draft resolution once more and to talk with lawyers on the task force about their understanding of law surrounding the CRB, if necessary.
The council will vote on a final draft of the resolution March 31 after taking more public input.