Courtesy Domenique Yermolayev campaign.
Domenique Yermolayev, left, reads from notes at her official campaign launch event. She is running for Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Works.
Domenique Yermolayev launched her campaign for Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Works during a small event Tuesday afternoon on the lawn outside Palette Cafe on Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Just a handful of people, mostly people running for office themselves, cheered her as she made a step in the official run.
Her campaign has two general foci: efficiency and transparency, she said. From there she gets into specifics with what she called sidewalks, scheduled services and communications.
She acknowledged that taxpayers in the city get a lot more services than they might even realize, and she said numerous times that she thought DPW employees do a fine job.
Where she sees a need for change is in modernization of communications. She would like to see even a “trouble ticket” system put in place that would help the department and people track small projects and complaints.
“There needs to be an attitude of customer service,” she said.
Scheduling was another issue she saw. With modern software and systems, some of which can be had free or low cost through the state, people can know more clearly when actions will take place.
"We need to make it easier for the city to help constituents find information, such when are streets going to be closed, and not the day before, not the day before,” she told the clapping audience, who responded with "or the morning of" or "when you arrive after work."
"This information clearly sits somewhere, and we need to find a way to make it public," Yermolayev said.
DPW has “a thousand” streets to pave, and water quality to watch, and new projects and maintenance of others, she said. All of these she plans to review under her scheduling and communications umbrellas, she said.
The department will communicate in a modern way, she said to clapping, “All of these cost nothing to do.”
She said she got into the race when, during the four-foot snow storm this winter, she had to call a neighbor to help unstick a truck in her driveway, she said. Two police officers showed up and were quickly stuck.
The neighbor had little help to give, and when she called city hall she was told “I don’t know” when a plow would clear her road or if they could get the police cars removed. No one could give her a basic window of time, she said, and that got her annoyed about scheduling.
She started as an independent, but is running on the Democratic line this November.
She said she is happy with the party’s endorsement.
“They’re all the type of people who work together,” she said of independents she knows and Democrats. This is partly how she thinks of efficiency, as well, she said. It’s not just about making DPW work right. It’s efficiency at the meetings, too. “They all have a sense of decorum about themselves that I think Saratogians want back.”