9/25/23 BSpa Trustee Meeting Summary

ICYMI here’s a summary of the 2 hour Village of Ballston Spa Board of Trustees 9/25 meeting in 21 emojis: ✂️🚘🎻💰⛑️🐦🎪ℹ️🧯✍️🚚🚛🚛🚚👷‍♂️🚾📣📖🇺🇸🗳️✅

News to know:

✂️ Ribbon cutting ceremony on 10/6 at National Bottle Museum

🚘 BSBPA needs 10/8 Car Show volunteers: email maggie@ballston.org or steve@ballston.org

🎻 11/18 and 12/30 Sound of Winter concert series at Brookside Museum 

💰County sales tax receipts up 10% in August; could result in more revenue to village 

⛑️ Lifesaving Narcan and training available through Village Police Department

🐦 Birdhouse proposal for next year under review; Park and Tree board submitted comments/revisions, board to review and add comments as well

🎪 Family Fun Day final cash spent by village estimated at $8K; received $7K in cash and $8K “in kind” gift donations from community bringing total estimated cost of event to $23K; final written accounting has not yet been provided by mayor 

ℹ️ Village has not been following Freedom of Information (FOIL) request process 

Motions passed (we agree on):

🧯Removed Jessica Clemmens from rolls of Eagle-Matt & Bspa Fire Dept

✍️ Contracts approved: Brookside Museum, National Bottle Museum, Friends of the Kayaderosseras, Ballston Elks Club, Ballston Area Senior Citizens, Ballston Area Community Center, Ballston American Legion, Ballston Area Recreation Commission

🚚 $9K for DPW install of Autowind Reel and Pinch Roller on Vac Truck

🚛 $12K for DPW brake repairs on Tandem Dump Truck

🚛 $3K for DPW axle repairs on Tandem Dump Truck

🚚 $4K for DPW install of root cutter nozzle for Vac Truck 

👷‍♂️DPW welcomes Darshan Williams as full time laborer starting 9/27 

Motions failed  (we disagree on):

🚾 $12,500 requested for Eagle Matt-Lee Fire Company No. 1 firehouse bathroom renovations; previously had set aside $10K. Trustee Baskin, while supportive of the effort, requested more information (firm budget with exact specifications instead of rough estimates) before approving the measure to ensure due financial oversight was conducted. Mayor Rossi (R) and Trustee VanDeinse-Perez (R) voted yes to just approve $12.K; Trustee Baskin (D) abstained; motion fails as needs 3 votes to pass; other two Trustees were not in attendance to vote on motion.

Call to action: 

📣1️⃣ Coming in under two hours, this week’s 9/25 village trustee meeting included multiple contract discussions, investments in DPW equipment and an important presentation on our village police force. 

Over $28K was approved for parts and installation for the vacuum truck and repairs on a dump truck as well as a new hire for DPW.  We are happy to see investment in our equipment to keep DPW workers safe and our streets clean and clear ahead of fall and winter seasons!

Thank you to Chief Bush of the Ballston Spa Police Department for his presentation on the current state of policing in the village. The department has renewed focus on traffic violations and are responding to info from residents where violations are occurring. They are also receiving a $10K grant for narcotics investigation to help combat the spread of fentanyl, opiates, and other illicit drugs. 

Narcan and training is available to ANY one who needs it—Chief Bush encourages all members of the public who are interested in administering narcan to contact the department. We agree that all citizens, not just first responders, can and should have access to and know how to administer narcan to save the lives of people in our community who struggle with addiction. We appreciate the update and the work the police department does in our community. 

Call to action pt. 2: 

📣 2️⃣ During the old business part of the agenda, Trustee Baskin raised several important points, including the need for an exact accounting of the cost to the village for Family Fun Day as well as Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests under Mayor Rossi’s administration. 

On Family Fun Day, the mayor provided only a spoken accounting of the final cost. Based on his estimates, the village will have spent $8000 on the event. $7500 of cash and “in-kind” donations of about $8000 from individuals and organizations bring the total estimated cost to roughly $23K. Thank you to all who supported the event. 

This week’s meeting, shorter than the last and with just 3 out of 5 trustees in attendance, left us with more questions than answers. Where is the accounting final numbers for Family Fun Day? What was the total cost for birdhouses and what investments should be made next year? What is the exact cost and plan for the Firehouse bathroom renovations?

Clear facts and figures that are documented, easily tracked and comply with accounting norms is a basic expectation of our elected officials. How can we have a functioning local government without clear tracking of where our tax dollars are being spent? 

Call to action pt. 3: 

📣 3️⃣ More questions remain around the transparency of our local government information beyond just financial accounting. Multiple FOIL requests have not been processed promptly as required by law. In order to hold our elected officials accountable, it is critical that requests for information are not stonewalled due to political affiliation. Why is the village not able to follow through on freedom of information (FOIL) requests from the public? 

Relatedly, one public commenter again raised a major concern regarding Mayor Rossi’s use of Facebook. According to the commenter and a third-party analysis of the mayor’s Facebook page, over 75 comments have been deleted by the mayor from his official mayoral Facebook page. 

Deleting comments is a clear violation of the first amendment, a concern recognized by Democratic trustees who have followed legal counsel’s suggestion not to enable comments on social media. 

Call to action pt. 4: 

📣4️⃣ Mayor Rossi has consistently used social media to skew perception of governance in the village: he has cropped Democratic trustees out of pictures he posts, posted official village business before meetings to preempt discussion, muddied the line between campaigning and mayoral duties, and now allegedly violated residents’ first amendment rights by deleting their speech from his “official” mayoral Facebook page. 

Not only is this deeply ironic coming from a “proud protector” of the first amendment (as he described himself when discussing the hate group proud boys’ right to protest in our village this August) it is illegal for a government official or agency to delete public comments except under certain circumstances. Why is Mayor Rossi not responding to evidence of partisan censorship and deleting over 75 comments on his “official” Mayor of Ballston Spa Facebook page?

We need to ensure that our elected officials are providing information to the public in a non biased, transparent manner. We need to make sure elected officials are following the law and our constitution and are held accountable for their actions. 

Call to action pt. 5: 

📖We need a strong and enforceable ethics law now more than ever. We call on all members of the public to read the proposed ethics law and speak up in support for passing it in the next meeting on 10/10 via emailing the village clerk or in public comment. 

🇺🇸 We need to add experienced and reasonable voices to our board of trustees that are willing to work together to keep our village financially secure and are transparent to what is happening with the business of our village. We call on all Village Democrats to support our candidate, Kamran Parwana in his campaign for village trustee this fall.  

🗳️ Make a plan now to VOTE on 11/7 for Kamran (✅check one and done!) and consider joining us and speak to your neighbors and friends about how important this local election is for our Village of Friends!