SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The city auditor called for changes to how the council does its job, including more meetings on evenings and weekends.
City Auditor Alex Marion published his recommendations in a “year in review” report of the 2025 Common Council. The report is the first to focus on the council’s operations. He called for the councilors to:
- Ask the Administration to give a written explanation for any waivers of competitive bids or requests for proposals (RFPs).
- Hold more meetings at night and on weekends so more people can attend outside their work shifts.
- Consider changing the city charter so their role becomes a full-time job.
- Have special elections for open seats rather than appointing someone until the next election.
Before Marion published the report, he sent it to Common Council President Rita Paniagua. In a reply that Marion published within the final report, Paniagua said the council would use the report as a resource to improve how the council operates.
Waivers
In 2025, Marion wrote, the council approved 58 waivers of the RFP process and 74 waivers for competitive bidding, both at the request of then-mayor Ben Walsh’s administration.
Both processes are how the city government contracts people to work on public projects, often for building projects or renovations. For projects costing more than $35,000 (or if the contract requires buying materials and equipment costing more than $20,000), the city budget director (currently Evan Loving) solicits bids from vendors. For example, there’s currently an open bid for work on the sports stadium for the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central (ITC) High School. Typically, whoever bids the lowest wins…