Niskayuna Republican Committee

09/29/2026

09/29/2026

Is Niskayuna next? Hmmm… yep looks like it!
No doubt, we will find out AFTER the election because that’s the way the current town administration handles things! Taxpayers are their personal ATMs!

09/25/2026

https://eedition.timesunion.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=c70cb533-587f-467b-bc65-e159933cf966&share=true

Court: Firing decision flawed in Niskayuna worker’s case

09/25/2026

SEE THE BELOW FOIL Request – “Blue Water,” Corrosion, Copper, and Water-System Communications
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Pursuant to the New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), Article 6 of the Public Officers Law, I am requesting copies of records concerning communications regarding “BLUE WATER” and related reports, complaints, discussions, or concerns involving corrosion, copper, water discoloration, and/or the Town of Niskayuna water system.
For purposes of this request, “BLUE WATER” relates to concerns involving corrosion and copper within the Town's water system and/or reports of blue or blue-green water or staining.
Accordingly, the Town's search should not be limited solely to documents containing the exact phrase “BLUE WATER.”
Please conduct a search covering the period from January 1, 2021 through September 25, 2026.
Specifically, I request all emails and related electronic communications sent, received, forwarded, copied (CC), blind copied (BCC), or otherwise maintained by the following individuals:
Jaime Puccioni
Erin Cassady-Dorion
Matt Yetto
Dan Bolke
Please search the subject lines, email bodies, attachments, forwarded messages, replies, and email chains for the following terms and reasonable variations thereof:
“BLUE WATER”
“blue water”
“blue-water”
“bluewater”
“blue-green water”
“blue staining”
“green staining”
“copper”
“copper corrosion”
“corrosion”
“corrosive water”
“pipe corrosion”
“copper pipes”
“copper levels”
“water discoloration”
“discolored water”
This request includes communications among the individuals identified above and communications between any of those individuals and other Town employees or officials, Town Board members, the Water & Sewer Department, engineers, consultants, laboratories, contractors, regulatory agencies, and residents.
Please include all responsive attachments, photographs, resident complaints, reports, engineering reports, memoranda, water-testing results, laboratory results, corrosion studies, correspondence, recommendations, and other records transmitted with or referenced in responsive communications.
The purpose of identifying these related search terms is to locate records concerning when Town officials and employees received information regarding blue or blue-green water, copper, corrosion, water discoloration, or potentially related conditions within the Town water system, and what communications or actions followed.
For responsive email chains, please provide the complete email chain, including the sender, recipients, CC/BCC information where maintained, date, time, subject line, and all attachments.
Please search Town-issued email accounts and other Town-maintained electronic records associated with the individuals identified above, including reasonably retrievable archived records.
I request that responsive records be provided electronically in their native electronic format or as searchable PDF files, where practicable.
If any responsive record or portion of a record is withheld or redacted, please identify the specific statutory exemption relied upon. Please provide all reasonably segregable non-exempt portions of any partially withheld record.
If the volume of responsive records is substantial, please contact me before imposing any fees. I am willing to receive responsive records on a rolling basis.
If the Town believes any portion of this request does not reasonably describe the records sought, please contact me so that I may clarify or reasonably modify the request.
Please acknowledge receipt and provide the approximate date by which the Town anticipates granting or denying access to these records.
Thank you.
Hannie M. Santana

09/25/2026

TIMES UNION ARTICLE - BELOW --FORMER EMPLOYEE SETH GOLDSTEIN SUES NISKAYUNA AND WINS
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Court says firing recommendation flawed in Niskayuna IT worker’s case

Appellate justices say hearing officer didn't provide evidence to justify Seth Goldstein's termination in secret-recording case

By Tyler A. McNeil, Staff Writer
Sep 24, 2026

NISKAYUNA — A hearing officer failed to back up the disciplinary charges the Town Board used to fire former systems administrator Seth Goldstein after he was blamed for the town’s secret recording of two years' worth of phone calls, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

The state Supreme Court’s Third Appellate Division called for hearing officer John Trela to elaborate on his recommendation to fire Goldstein, which the Town Board acted on, though the court found Trela did not explain “factual findings he relied upon” to justify the firing.

The five-page decision marks the latest chapter in Goldstein’s legal case against Niskayuna, which he accuses of wrongful termination.

“Absent specific factual findings as to what occurred and an explanation of the basis for sustaining each specification, we cannot determine whether substantial evidence supports the determination,” the decision read.

Goldstein was put on leave in 2024 after administration officials discovered that phone calls had been recorded without any disclaimer since 2022, the same year that the town switched to Fluent Voice’s phone system. Under town code, only police calls could be recorded.

Trela, according to town records, said that “testimony and evidence submitted in the record” made it clear that Goldstein should be fired. The town approved that recommendation in February 2025.

In the Third Appellate Division’s decision, justices wrote that Trela had failed to make “sufficient factual findings” that permitted “meaningful review” and never stated what reasons he used to support each charge of guilt.

“This failure was particularly glaring when distinguishing between intentional and negligent misconduct, as the hearing officer never determined when, how or why telephone calls were improperly recorded and left doubt as to whether he faulted petitioner for intentionally disregarding the town resolution when the telephone system was set up for later advising the town supervisor how to turn recording on in violation of that resolution, or for negligently failing to monitor the telephone system in general,” the decision read.

The four-year town employee, represented by Kevin Luibrand, has previously denied responsibility for turning on all lines in the recording system and has instead accused Gabbit LLC, the company that bought Fluent Voice before the system went live, of activating the recording feature.

He sued Gabbit last year for $3 million in the U.S. District Court of Northern New York. He sued the town for back pay and reinstatement. Luibrand declined to comment on whether Goldstein, who now has a different job, is still interested in returning to his old post.

“As we stated all along, Mr. Goldstein was made a scapegoat by the town and accused of conduct he did not engage in,” Luibrand told the Times Union. “He’s had to pay a terrible price for that and this decision is the first step to correcting that.”

Goldstein testified that the then-town supervisor, Jaime Puccioni, asked him how to turn on the recording capability after the system went live and “that she enabled recording on the town attorney’s line and the other phones in the town supervisor’s unit.”

The ruling noted that town attorney Alaina Finan “confirmed in her testimony” that Puccioni made such a request and “the town supervisor had the ability to activate that recording on her own.”

Finan disputed that account of her testimony in an email to the Times Union, writing that she had testified only that Puccioni “had requested her own telephone line be recorded due to threats received.”

Puccioni, who resigned two years ago after receiving hateful voicemails at work, also addressed the decision in an email to the Times Union.

“To clarify the record, I had no knowledge of how to turn phone system recordings on or off. I was receiving threatening calls and sent Seth an email to request that my calls be recorded and he adjusted the settings accordingly,” Puccioni wrote.

Finan, in a statement, said that the town has not changed its position on the need to fire Goldstein.