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City Council: Going Away Party Scavenger Hunt!

You will need a copy of  the meeting agenda and Google.  Hint: You can find more information in the 12/5 and 12/19 agendas, also.  Post your progress in the comments or find the answers at the bottom.


Agenda Link



  1. Find the figure of $387,160 written anywhere in any document submitted by RISE

  2. Don’t waste your time.  You won’t find one because RISE never proposed a bid amount of 387,160.  

  3. Caution: Don’t be tricked. Any document you find with that figure on it was created by Commissioner Moran’s or Mayor Kim’s office and is completely unrelated to any bid by RISE.

  4. Find the invalid budget transfer on the Mayor’s agenda.  

  5. Hint: It's the one that shows he wanted to steal from Shelters of Saratoga to give to RISE 

  6. Find the email where Angela Rella asks the Mayor’s former executive assistant, Jen Dunn, to create a voucher to pay an invoice while having the audacity to copy his current executive assistant.  

  7. Fun Fact:Jenn has not been the Mayors executive assistant for 6 months and creating this voucher is outside her job scope.

  8. Take a break to laugh at just how ridiculous #3 is. 

  9. Find the Certificate of Sufficient Funds listing budget lines that are currently zero.  

  10. Hint: The amount of $387,160 is requested by Commissioner Sangvhi,-That’s an odd twist from previous attempts which were requested by the Mayor.  

  11. Hint: The document does not clarify that the money is from the 2024 budget.

  12. Hint: There are two amounts listed-$300,000 (the 2024 budgeted shelter funding amount) and $400,000 (2024 contingency budget).  

  13. Warning: It is not clear what amount is coming from each line item to total the erroneous figure imagined by Moran and Kim

  14. Find the original RFP which is entitled Operation and Management of a Homeless Shelter.  

  15. Fun Fact: This is important because the City seems to have forgotten what they sought back in May.  

  16. Find the email where Commissioner Moran says Shelters of Saratoga is not classically a single source they are functionally one because the assistant city purchaser told him so. 

  17. This is a really fun one because he doesn't bother to double check as The City Purchasing Agent that he is still not following procedures if the kind of sort of sole source descriptive applied.  

  18. Find the contract for Shelters of Saratoga to continue their city funded work through March 15, 2024. 

  19.  Hint: There isn’t one, The City and Shelters of Saratoga do not have the protections of a contract despite allocated funds. 

  20. Find the email that says purchasing approves pending a letter stating that the contractor will hold the original price. 

  21. Fun Fact: The letter referenced  doesn't say anything about holding the price.

  22. Their total bid and price for their 6 month contract was $239,385. 

  23. The price, terms and scope are modified making extending this bid against proper purchasing procedure. 

  24. Find the any of the related budget transfers for any of these proposals or warrant for the voucher on this agenda.

  25. Hint: Nothing as of 10:10 am   

  26. Find the Hail Mary Commissioner Moran came up with as his only hope to renew a terminated contract with no renewals in the contract

  27. His imaginative attempt is based on the only number he could conjure up to try to make his plan work.

  28. It is a completely fabricated figure which he insists came from a bid amount submitted. Maybe he has repeated it so many times he has convinced himself that his story is true.

  29. He did slip up on two occasions providing proof that our assertions are true.

  30. Unfortunately, it does not adhere to the City’s purchasing policy he is responsible to uphold. 

  31. Hint: This is a freebie- This would include nearly all the documents.

  32. Bonus Fact: Creating your own emergency so you can override proper purchasing procedures is a violation.

  33. That is a concrete violation of protocol.

  34. Visit the State Comptroller’s website to read those words.

  35. Feel free to call the Comptroller and share your concerns about all this.  You are paying for the officials who won't follow procedure and the contracts that result from such blatant disregard for rules and laws.




Answers

  1. You won’t find the $387,160 coming from RISE. Answer varies on the $300,000 because there are probably a hundred examples 

  2. http://agenda.saratoga-springs.org/agendainternal/AttachmentViewer.ashx?AttachmentID=24942&ItemID=23601

  3. See page 10 http://agenda.saratoga-springs.org/agendainternal/AttachmentViewer.ashx?AttachmentID=25035&ItemID=23653

  4. http://agenda.saratoga-springs.org/agendainternal/AttachmentViewer.ashx?AttachmentID=24967&ItemID=2360

  5. http://agenda.saratoga-springs.org/agendainternal/AttachmentViewer.ashx?AttachmentID=24916&ItemID=23601

  6. see page 9 http://agenda.saratoga-springs.org/agendainternal/AttachmentViewer.ashx?AttachmentID=25035&ItemID=23653

  7. It doesn’t exist

  8. http://agenda.saratoga-springs.org/agendainternal/AttachmentViewer.ashx?AttachmentID=24973&ItemID=23633

  9. There are none. 

  10. Answer in the question

  11. Just a reminder of the rules.

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