The following letter requesting the appointment of a County Charter Commission was sent to the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors on May 12th and read at the Board of Supervisors' meeting on May 20th by Linda McKenney, Co-President.
Here is a link to the Board of Supervisors’ May 20th meeting.
The letter is read at timestamp 31:20.
May 10, 2025
Saratoga County Board of Supervisors
40 McMaster Street
Ballston Spa, NY 12020
Dear Board of Supervisors,
The League of Women Voters of Saratoga County asks the Board of Supervisors to appoint a Charter Commission to examine options for types of governance that Saratoga County might consider adopting. The goal would be for the Commission to recommend one system of governance for the County to adopt (including the possibility of readopting our current form). Said Charter Commission would be given the authority to weigh the advantages of each of the types of legislative bodies and of executive (decision making) structures and to recommend one legislative and one executive type.
In 1987 the Board of Supervisors created a 16-member 21st Century Commission. They issued a 113 page report that dealt with many issues and made many recommendations, among them recommendations about the structure of the County Government, the two most important of which were to “enact a local law for the creation of a county board of representatives by 1991”, and to “establish a schedule of regular review of the structure and responsiveness of our county government.“ They also said, “Although we believe the accomplishments of Saratoga County government compare most favorably with other counties, it is prudent to carefully consider: -as Saratoga’s population and budgets continue to grow, “will the present form of government be able to meet the needs of its County residents?” (p.87)
We are currently operating under the same form of government we had in 1791 when our county was established. On the last Tuesday in May 1791, the Supervisors rode their horses or drove their carts to the meeting at the “dwelling house of William Mead, of Still-water.”
There have been many changes in the past 234 years, and we believe it is time to once again critically examine whether our current governance structure continues to meet our needs. The League of Women Voters of Saratoga County believes this issue should be reexamined and asks you to establish a Charter Commission.
Note that if you do not establish a commission, the voters of the county can initiate the process by filing a petition with the clerk of the legislative board which contains the signatures of at least 10% of the total number of voters in the last gubernatorial election (10,482) asking that the board establish a Charter Commission.
If the legislative body of the county does not adopt a resolution creating a charter commission on its own accord, within three months of the petition filing with the clerk of the board, the board is required to submit the question to the voters, by referendum, on whether to establish a charter commission. This question must be posed to the voters at the next general election occurring not less than five months from the petitions filing. If the voters approve of the formation of a charter commission, the board must appoint members within two months of the public referendum.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Marie Pendergast and Linda McKenney, Co-Presidents
League of Women Voters of Saratoga County