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Saranac Lake makes another offer for code officer

SARANAC LAKE — The village has offered a code enforcement officer position to another person after its prior candidate turned down the job.

The village Board of Trustees voted Monday to have village Manager John Sweeney extend a pre-employment offer to Paul Blaine, currently the code enforcement officer for the town of Brighton.

“He is knowledgeable and has great people skills and will do well for our community,” Mayor Clyde Rabideau posted on his Facebook page.

Blaine would serve as a code enforcement officer and the liason to the village Development Board, formerly the village Planning Board. He still has to complete the necessary, civil-service required pre-employment testing for the position.

Blaine has worked for the town of Brighton for the past 10 years. Before that, he was the code enforcement officer for the town of Peru for five years, during which time he was also the liason to Peru’s planning and zoning boards.

At a meeting two weeks ago, the board had agreed to hire Matthew Szeglia of Gabriels for the position. Rabideau said Szeglia declined the position “as he wanted to continue being a real estate agent inside the village and was informed that there would be possible conflicts of interests in such a pursuit.”

“We appreciate his interest in the position, respect his decision and wish him great success in his real estate career,” the mayor said.

The code enforcement officer/Development Board liaison job is one of two positions the village has created to handle the responsibilities of former Community Development Director Jeremy Evans, who resigned in May. The board previously hired Jamie Konkoski as its community development director. She’ll be responsible for grant writing and grant administration, and working with various advisory boards in the community.

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