New Saratoga Springs Mayor John Safford seeks decorum with the appointment of a sergeant-at-arms at every City Council meeting. He says disruptive speakers will be removed, but not arrested.
Will Waldron/Times UnionSARATOGA SPRINGS — New Mayor John Safford said he hopes that the years of tumultuous City Council meetings, in which speakers are removed and arrested, can end with his plan to appoint a sergeant-at-arms.
The Republican said the sergeant-at-arms would rotate among the Saratoga Springs police officer assigned to the meeting and that officer would have the authority to remove unruly attendees.
“We are still working on the new rules,” Safford said. “We won’t remove people unless they are warned a number of times. My concern is not the speakers, but groups that come and harass the speakers. Those are the ones who have been escalating and that is dangerous and that is what I’ve got to stop.”
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For the past three years, members of Black Lives Matter have been the target of removal and arrests on charges such as obstructing governmental administration, a misdemeanor, for either not yielding the floor or interrupting other speakers. Safford emphasized that he has no intention to arrest speakers, but wants everyone to be respectful of each other and adhere to the three-minute limit for each speaker during a meeting public comment comment period.
He also said that he has been speaking with the state’s Committee on Open Government to ensure the city properly handles public comment. He said once he has formulated the rules for a sergeant-at-arms, he will send the plan to the state Attorney General’s office for approval.
“I don’t know if I will hear back, but we will send it up to the AG,” Safford said.
Former mayor Ron Kim has said that the Attorney General’s office, which is investigating possible civil rights violations by city officials and police, has told him that the city must stop arresting people for exercising their First Amendment rights. In a report he released in December, Kim said the state is seeking a consent agreement, that among other things would prohibit any public official from demanding arrests of an individual.
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Aside from ending arrests, Safford said his intention is just to return decorum to meetings.
“We just want to have peaceful meetings,” Safford said. “How do we have meetings that are not disruptive and still let people speak? As chairman of the meeting, I’m in charge of safety. After many warnings that you are out of order, that would trigger a removal.”
