County seat location in play
Acrimony fuels concern over possibility of leaving village
A fight over where to relocate the village’s public works garage has raised concerns that Saratoga County is considering relocating its seat of government outside the village.
The issue arose June 13 when Ballston Spa Mayor Frank Rossi revealed he met with County Administrator Steve Bulger to discuss taking over some county buildings on High Street for its sorely needed garage, village court and police station. That’s because the Ballston Spa complex is undergoing a study “to see if that is going to be the future of the county seat or if they are going to possibly relocate,” he said.
Rossi, a Republican, also criticized Democratic village Trustee Liz Kormos for talking with the Saratoga County Agricultural Society to ask them to have its board discuss possibly selling a lot to the village for a DPW garage.
“We, as a board, haven’t discussed that as a board,” Rossi said. “The problem is we haven’t discussed this ourselves.”
On Friday, Trustee Shawn Raymond said that’s “categorically false.” Raymond said he discussed the sale of that lot with Rossi before he took office in March. Raymond also said that the board has been talking about locations for the past four years and that “it’s good to keep all of our options open.”
Yet more upsetting to Raymond, as well as the other Democrats on the board, is Rossi’s indication that the county could be moving out.
“The bigger story is what’s going to happen to the county,” Trustee Ben Baskin said Friday. “If they move out of the village, that’s huge. We have to work together as a board. Frank has not shown interest in working collaboratively. But this is something we should be talking about, how we are going to advocate for the village as the county does its planning? We have to have
input in this plan because it will be a challenge to the village to have this group of people move out.”
On Friday, Rossi did not respond to a Times Union request for comment. Nor did Bulger, who was asked in a voicemail to discuss the possibility the county may vacate buildings in Ballston Spa.
The county’s spokeswoman emailed a statement from Board of Supervisors Chair Todd Kusnierz that said that the county is doing an assessment study of its facilities “to determine the spatial needs of the county for the next 20 years. The results of this study will assist us in making appropriate decisions regarding the use of our facilities and how to best serve the needs of our residents and employees.”
The spokeswoman did not answer the specific question on Bulger’s authority to offer the buildings to the village. She only said that “no plans have been made or will be made until after the study is complete.”
At Monday’s meeting, Rossi said that should be in September.
Saratoga Springs Supervisor Tara Gaston was surprised when asked about Ballston Spa taking over county buildings,
calling any talks “extraordinarily premature to offer the use” as the Board of Supervisors just authorized a study on the facilities in April.
“All conversations are very hypothetical because the study is not complete,” Gaston said. “I sincerely hope that the administrator negotiating use of our buildings is inaccurate.”
She said that 40 Mcmaster St., the main complex, needs repair. Gaston also said that county departments are “jockeying for more space” and that the county’s new public safety building is not an option as it’s already full.
The need for a new DPW building and a new court and police station in Ballston Spa has been a topic of discussion for the
last four years and more recently during March’s election, which Rossi won, defeating Democrat Christine Fitzpatrick.
As part of the search for a location, Kormos talked with the Saratoga County Agricultural Society, which runs the Saratoga County Fair, to discuss the possibility of selling its auxiliary lot to the village for a DPW garage.
That angered Rossi, who said he wanted to wait because Bulger sent him an email saying that the village should “hold off until they are done with their study.”
Raymond and Ben Baskin, the other Democrats, jumped to Kormos’ defense. Raymond said Rossi shouldn’t put all his “eggs in one basket and hope
the county vacates. … That’s the definition of poor planning.” He also said High Street is not a good location for the DPW as a “downtown densely populated neighborhood and frankly I don’t know if it had the space.”
Baskin said trustees are open to the county’s offer but that they “should pursue all potential options.”
“Let’s move forward on all fronts,” Baskin said.
“The number of employees are crucial to the downtown,” Kormos said. “They eat downtown, shop downtown, go to events after work downtown. But Frank treated it like oh, the county will give us property we want . ... He doesn’t seem to see it as an issue.”