The Saratoga Springs City Council will send a resolution to Albany by the deadline today that supports, generally, the work of the city’s police reform task force, but that does not include a clear statement supporting the creation of a Civilian Review Board to oversee the police department.
The council approved the final, third, revision of the document with little discussion despite the dozens of people who spoke in support of the review board during special sessions of the council last night and last week.
The resolution calls for the mayor to create an “independent advisory committee” by June 1, “to assist in the implementation of the directives contained in this resolution...The independent advisory committee will further review the recommendation for a Civilian Review Board.”
The language, that many activists and supporters in the city wanted, called on the council to create--not just to study--the review board. The city’s attorney maintains that creation can not be guaranteed without a closer look at the laws surrounding its formation and therefore should not be part of the resolution.
The other challenge posed by the public said that the language of Executive Order #203, the order that required all law enforcement agencies in the state to examine their policing policies and procedures, says that the committee charged with reviewing these policies will create a plan and the council shall approve it.
Ronald Kim, the former commissioner of public safety, told the board the law was clear that the council must ratify the full report of the task force, not pick-and-choose which elements to support.
"We're going to get sued," he told the council. "We need to follow the law here."
City attorney Vincent DeLeonardis said later in the meeting that he had no worry of a lawsuit.
"The resolution is in conformance with Gov. Cuomo's Executive Order number 203,” he said, adding that the intent of the order was to start the communication with discretion given to the council to create their own plan to follow.
"The council is not under any kind of directive or mandate," he said. He said he confirmed this with officials in the governor’s office.
The council had listened to the dozens of speakers, most of whom asked for the CRB, but they had likely already made up their minds.
The only council member to speak about the resolution before the vote was the Commissioner of Finance Michele Madigan. She said that the resolution was excellent, though it did not satisfy everyone, and that it would provide a way for all 50 resolutions in the task force to be addressed.
“I meant what I said at our last meeting, I don’t see where we are in any disagreement, but there are four of us on this council who understand just saying ‘make it so,’ does not make it so,” she said just before the vote was taken. She said Section Five of the resolution forces the council to implement the plan.
Madigan, Mayor Meg Kelly, Commissioner of Public Safety Robin Dalton, and Commissioner of Public Works Anthony "Skip" Scirocco voted for the resolution. John Franck, commissioner of accounts, voted against it.
The Saratoga Springs Police Reform task force report, the resolutions and other reports can be found on the city’s website. Read more here.
For our coverage of the task force, read more here.