Steve Thurston (2022)
Ron Kim
John Kaufmann won’t quit, but he might not have the legal backing he believes he does.
Kaufmann, who runs the Saratoga Springs Politics blog, has been writing that the city attorney position is a “public officer” position, and laws would require that person to be a resident of the city.
Kaufmann had taken issue with Kim’s reported first choice for the job of city attorney, Elizabeth Fletcher-Fairbanks, who lives in Middle Grove. She has since withdrawn her name, Kim said in a recent interview.
[Read our earlier coverage here.]
Kaufmann spoke at the city council meeting on Tuesday Jan. 18 and reiterated his point that anyone chosen for the position must be a resident of the city and challenged the mayor to use legal precedent to prove him wrong.
An email later in the week from Kauffman said in part:
“Mayor Ron Kim reaffirmed his contention that the City Attorney position is not a public office and as such is not subject to a residency requirement. While his most recent candidate, who lives in Middle Grove, withdrew her candidacy, apparently the Mayor is maintaining that he has the right to appoint a non-resident to the City Attorney’s position. The New York State Department of State in an email received today says otherwise.”
He includes the email from a woman in DOS's Local Government Services Department that says simply “Yes, a city attorney would be considered a public officer.”
When reached for further comment, she said that her office generally works with local governments directly, helping them navigate through various state regulations. She only speaks to members of the public occasionally, she said.
She said she was not supposed to speak with the press and had no idea that Kauffman was a blogger and might be using her words online. She then directed FoothillsBusinessDaily.com to the press office of the Department of State.
Their answer comports with what Mayor Kim said Tuesday evening, Jan. 18.
After running through a quick legal summary, citing a decision by the New York State Court of Appeals, which says a city attorney is not a public officer, he added later that even if the position of city attorney is a public officer, “We have the power to enact a local law that would vary this.”
The press office in the Department of State seemed to agree and was a bit more nuanced than the person from the Local Government Services Department.
They wrote: “An opinion of the NYS Attorney General…has concluded that the residency requirements in Public Officers Law Section 3(1) for city attorneys or corporation counsel in cities could be changed by local law.”
They added one caveat that more interpretation from the Office of the Attorney General might be in order.
This public argument stems from the decision Kim made not to reappoint City Attorney Vince DeLeornardis and Assistant City Attorney Tony Izzo. He said at Tuesday’s meeting, he believed he can make the office less costly without losing quality counsel if the position returns to a part-time position, which it had been until 2018.
Under his plan, a part-time attorney would work about 30 hours per week and cost $95,000 to $100,000 per year. The 2022 budget would have paid the city attorney and assistant about $206,000 this year.
“We are not required to seek a Saratoga Springs resident,” Kim said, adding that they will look in that direction. He hopes to have another nomination in a few weeks.
Sidebar: Public employees cannot be stopped by their supervisors from speaking to the press. For clarification, members of the press are “members of the public.” FoothillsBusinessDaily.com withheld the name of the DOS employee so as not to cause her further trouble, but we retain our right to report in the future.