(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
Anthony "Skip" Scirocco, right, pops a holiday noise maker to mark the end of the legislative term in December 2021. The Music Hall where the Saratoga Springs City Council met that night is now named after him.
The Saratoga Springs City Council both honored and began to replace the former Commissioner of Public Works Anthony “Skip” Scirocco in a series of resolutions and votes Tuesday evening March 19. Scirocco died of cancer during his 23rd year as an elected public servant on April 6, 2022. He was 74 and in his eighth, two-year term as commissioner. Before that, he had been Saratoga Springs supervisor to the county board.
When conducting the attendance roll call, Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran asked the room for a moment of silence for Scirocco. Later in the meeting Mayor Ron Kim said how grateful he was that Scirocco attended Kim’s mother’s funeral.
“What he really surpassed at was being a decent, good human being,” the mayor said. “We need that, and we will miss him.”
County Supervisor Matt Veitch said Scirocco was the primary advocate to bring the city’s portion of the NYRA admissions tax to the city. The money formerly went to the county. He was also central in having a pedestrian lane added to the Geyser Road bridge over the railroad tracks, the first pedestrian-friendly bridge of its type in the area, Veitch said.
“It was a great honor to have served with him,” he said.
The city council later passed a resolution in memoriam that highlighted Scirocco’s work to repair and preserve the “Canfield Casino, the Spirit of Life Statue, and the Civil War monument,” in Congress Park. In 2018, Scirocco led the clean-up and rehabilitation of the Saratoga Springs City Hall after a lightning strike and fire. They called his work in that repair one of his “outstanding achievements” in a long line of preservation work. In a resolution, they renamed the Saratoga Music Hall the Anthony J. Scirocco Music Hall.
In attendance were Mark Scirocco and Anthony Scirocco Jr., the elder Scirocco’s sons.
“They’ve been very good to the family,” Anthony Jr. said of the council after the votes. “They’ve been to the funeral, the wake, and they offered very kind words. This was a very fitting tribute to my father. He would have really liked it.”
Scirocco was the only Republican on the city council at the time of his death.
The city charter says the council picks a replacement to fill out the remainder of this year, but it does not say how that is done.
Therefore, the council chose to empanel a committee, chaired by former Commissioner of Accounts John Franck, that will conduct the first line of vetting to replace Scirocco.
Kristen Dart, Barbara Thomas, Timothy Holmes, and Alexus Brown were named to the committee. Dart was a member of the Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force. Thomas has been president of the League of Women Voters. Alexus Brown has been active in city politics and in the Black Lives Matter Movement. Timothy Holmes is a local Republican and has been part of the party’s leadership.
The committee’s discussions with the candidates will be livestreamed but the public will not be present in the room. The committee will offer a non-binding recommendation to the city council, which will appoint the person.
The four candidates seeking to replace the elder Scirocco are Anthony Scirocco Jr., Jason Golub, William “Bill” McTygue, and Robert Bullock. Anyone interested in being considered has until 5p.m. Monday April 25 to call the mayor’s office or email the mayor’s office.
Scirocco Jr. said he was happy to see at least one Republican on the committee, but saw his chances, as a Republican, as a long shot for the position. He had said previously that he plans to run later this year when the public will elect the commissioner to finish out the term which ends Dec. 31, 2023.
In a housekeeping move, the council voted to allow the mayor to organize and conduct the public works agenda at council meetings until a new commissioner is appointed.