Saratoga Springs will spend up to $25,000 in taxpayer money to defend Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll against a civil lawsuit brought by former Commissioner of Public Works Jason Golub, after the city's liability insurer twice refused to pick up the tab. The City Council approved the funding at a special meeting Monday, a move that comes as the broader legal fight between Coll and Golub grinds on in both state and federal court.
According to WAMC, the council voted to allocate the funds after the insurer declined coverage for Coll's defense not once but twice. The misdemeanor complaint against Golub was filed by an investigating officer in or around November 2024 and was ultimately dismissed.
Golub's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, names Coll, the city, and police Lt. Paul Veitch as defendants. WAMC reports the suit alleges a pattern of unwarranted and malicious attacks by Coll and the police department, while Coll maintains that he and the department acted lawfully. The suit also alleges malicious prosecution and First Amendment retaliation tied to the case. A separate WAMC account from August describes the federal complaint as outlining malicious prosecution, First Amendment retaliation, equal-protection violations and defamation.
A Dismissed Charge and a City Divided
The underlying criminal case against Golub collapsed in June 2025, when City Judge Jeffrey Wait dismissed the official-misconduct charge as legally and factually defective because it did not allege Golub knew the employee was working on city time or using city property, per the Times Union. Wait reportedly found no evidence that Golub knew a city plumber was at his home or using city-owned property; the plumber had spent 10 minutes at Golub's home in 2023 pouring city-purchased liquid cleaner down a clogged kitchen drain during work hours, according to the same report. A separate court decision, Matter of Golub v. City of Saratoga Springs, recounts the criminal complaint and its dismissal.
Golub's attorney, Karl Sleight, called the council's latest vote a “head-scratcher,” the Times Union reports. The council has voted multiple times against covering Golub's fees, including again in June, and Sleight said a notice of appeal has been filed in that matter, according to the Times Union. State Supreme Court Justice Richard Kupferman had earlier voided the council's prior refusal and ordered a new vote, though the Times Union notes he explicitly took no position on whether the city should approve the payment.
Coll Pushes Back, Cites Conflict of Interest
Coll said Golub's allegations against him are without merit and referred further questions to his attorney, Stephen Rehfuss, who did not immediately respond to the Times Union's request for comment.
The tension between Coll and Golub reportedly predates the lawsuit. The Times Union notes Coll sent a 2022 letter seeking to discredit Golub to his employer and the New York State Bar Association, and also wrote a letter to the editor of a weekly city newspaper. During a panhandling discussion, Golub made a “rich white lady” comparison, according to the Times Union. Golub was the city's first Black elected commissioner or council member, the paper reports.
A Pattern of Disputed Legal-Fee Fights
This is not the first time Saratoga Springs has wrestled with who foots the bill for officials' legal troubles. CBS 6 Albany reported that the council voted 3-2 in July 2024 to reimburse Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran $60,993 for legal expenses tied to a criminal investigation into the city's on-call pay policy, only for a Saratoga County judge to rule the city violated the law and issue a permanent injunction blocking those funds. The following month, the council approved similar reimbursements for Golub himself, per that same report.
Golub also filed an Article 78 proceeding seeking about $47,000 in legal fees owed to Sleight, while Justice Kupferman had already ruled on the indemnification dispute, the Times Union reports. The city adopted a formal Defense and Indemnification chapter through Local Law No. 7-2025 in October 2025, part of an effort described by The Daily Gazette to better define when the city will cover employees named in civil or criminal actions.
Beyond the legal wrangling, the council, with Coll among its members, voted for a new indemnification law and separately rejected Golub's request for fees, the Times Union notes. A state Supreme Court justice has also ruled in a related matter that the law does not provide for paying legal fees tied to criminal acts even when an investigation turns up no criminal conduct. The city, meanwhile, is also contending with a projected $5 million budget deficit heading into 2027, with officials expected to consider layoffs for eight firefighters and an 18% property tax increase to help balance the books, even as the council is expected to pursue funding for a new police station.
