Former Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub appeared in city court Tuesday on official misconduct charges.
Golub and his attorney Karl Sleight filed a not guilty plea for charges linked to alleged incidents where city employees worked on private property using city resources while on city time.
Golub’s Deputy Commissioner Joe O’Neill was charged similarly and pleaded not guilty last week. Current DPW Commissioner Hank Kuczynski suspended O’Neill for five days beginning Thursday. It was not clear if the two developments were related.
Attorney Sleight had two issues he brought to Judge Jeffrey Wait this morning. One was to file a subpoena for the HR file the case seemingly emanates from and the other was to declare his intention to have the Saratoga County District Attorney’s office search Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll’s personal and city phone records for information related to the case.
Sleight spoke with reporters after the court appearance.
“Well, the preliminary disclosures by the District Attorney’s office suggest that Commissioner Coll was intimately involved in this manner. The more we look at this, the real question here is, what was the motivation for charges? As I’ve said from the beginning, this case involved eight minutes, a jug of Drano, a clogged sink. My question is, what motivated someone to try to charge an attorney of the stature of my client months after the event with this charge? We’ll get to the bottom of it, and it starts today,” said Sleight.
In 2022, before he was in office, Coll, a retired FBI agent, criticized Golub for comments he made during a discussion on an aggressive panhandling resolution.
At the time, Golub raised concerns that city police might take the word of a “rich white lady” over that of an unhoused person.
“Like, if I raise my hand and say, ‘She’s too close to me. This is egregious.’ Well, OK. What happens? You’re going to have one, you’re going to have a rich white lady over here who says that and you’re going to have a homeless person. So, who are you going to believe?” said Golub.
Speaking with WAMC this month, Coll said he complained about the comment at the time.
“I did make a referral, because he’s a lawyer, to his place of employment. I made a referral to the Bar Association as well because no one, no lawyer, no law enforcement official, again, should be making comments on people’s status. And that did bother me quite a bit,” said Coll.
Coll says his relationship with Golub is now cordial and that his previous complaint is not related to the charges, and adds that he cannot direct city police to file charges.
“Let me put it to you a different way. I took an oath, an oath, to uphold the laws and the ordinances of the city and to do that fairly and equally and that’s what I am going to do and that’s what I’m doing every day. And that is the way to move forward,” said Coll.
Sleight rejects that narrative.
“No. I— the motivation of this case will become apparent in due time and when that happens, there will be a reckoning,” said Sleight.
In August, Golub stepped down from his city role for a position at the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Golub is due back in court January 9th. O’Neill’s case was adjourned until December 5th.
