League of Women Voters of Saratoga County

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Letter to the Editor: Cities should separate administrative functions from legislative functions

The League of Women Voters of Saratoga County (LWVSC) does not support the new
charter being proposed for the City of Saratoga Springs.
LWVSC believes that cities in this County should separate their administrative functions
from their legislative functions by having a City Council that makes policy and laws and either
an elected executive or an appointed administrator to carry out administrative functions. The
League supports this separation of functions in order to have a strong centralized administration,
to have clear lines of responsibility and to eliminate waste.
Neither the current Saratoga Springs City Charter nor the City Charter being proposed by
this year’s Charter Commission separates the administrative functions from the legislative
ones.(City Commissioners and the Mayor sit on the City Council and each administers a
department).
If a proposed new charter does not separate legislative from administrative
responsibilities, LWVSC does not support it.

Ann Kril, Co-President LWVSC

Published 10/14/18 in The Saratogian