SARANAC LAKE — President Ronald Reagan was still in office and the movie “Three Men and a Baby” finished atop the box office the last time Harrietstown Highway Superintendent Craig Donaldson faced any opposition in his re-election bid.

For the first time since 1987, Donaldson will face a challenge in November. Jacob Vennie-Vollrath was nominated to run for the position at last week’s town Democratic Party caucus. He’s one of a trio of political newcomers the party picked to run against several incumbent town office-holders.

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Vennie-Vollrath

Vennie-Vollrath, 35, moved to Saranac Lake from Wisconsin three-and-a-half years ago and works as regional advocacy coordinator for the Adirondack North Country Association. He’s a basketball and football coach, and is involved with local organizations such as the Saranac Lake Farmer’s Market and the Village Improvement Society.

Vennie-Vollrath said he doesn’t have any prior highway department experience but said he grew up farming, working construction and landscaping “and have driven more hours on a tractor and spent more time in a Bobcat and driving large loads than I can remember.”

“I realize I have an extremely uphill battle with Mr. Donaldson,” he said. “He’s very popular, and he does a very good job in his position. But I do think I have a few new ideas that this election could help bring out.”

Since moving here, Vennie-Vollrath said he’s noticed that many elected positions are unopposed year after year. That’s one reason why he’s running.

“I don’t think that’s healthy for democracy, regardless of whether the person in the job is doing a good job,” he said.

Vennie-Vollrath said he’s also running because he wants to look into the “redundancies” between the town and village of Saranac Lake.

“We are ultimately serving the taxpayers here, and if there are opportunities to provide the same or better levels of services and increase collaborations and better the relationships between the town and village, that helps everyone,” he said. “In talks with officials from both the town and village, there appears to be some animosities that are preventing efficiencies and collaboration.”

Vennie-Vollrath said he would be more involved in the management and planning side of the highway department than its day-to-day operations. He said he’d like to create a management plan for replacing the town’s trucks and equipment over time.

“I would like to engage the town in some long-term budgetary planning, should funding on the county, state or federal level be interrupted,” he added. “We need to explore alternative grants and sources of funding for projects.”

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Donaldson

Donaldson, a Republican, was appointed highway superintendent in spring 1987 after Archie Strack retired. He fended off a primary challenge and defeated the Democratic candidate that year to win the race. The 61-year-old has worked for the highway department for 36 years, most of that time as its superintendent.

He said he hopes town residents vote for who they think can do the best job.

“I would like to think I’ve done over and above here,” he said. “I’m dedicated. I’ve worked hard, long hours. I’ve tried to keep the equipment and the roads up, and all the paperwork that’s come with it.”

Asked about facing opposition to his re-election bid this year, Donaldson said he was “kind of surprised” because he said he was under the impression he wouldn’t be challenged.

“It’s a little discouraging when you’ve put your life into this place, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. I’m not here to run anybody down. I’m here to do the best job I can.”

The highway department is responsible for maintaining 64 lane miles of town and county roads. Donaldson said he has a six-person crew in the summer that drops down to five people in the winter as one employee is shifted to the town-run Adirondack Regional Airport. He said he’s worked with the town board to replace trucks and equipment as often as possible.

Since he started with the town, Donaldson said he and his crews have reconstructed every road the town maintains, and now they’re starting that cycle again. Projects on Kiwassa Road, Trudeau Road and Bayside Drive were completed this year, and town highway crews also expanded the parking lot at Dewey Mountain Recreation Center, Donaldson said.

Asked about the potential to share services with the village, Donaldson said Harrietstown and Saranac Lake, and other towns, work together and share equipment regularly, without fanfare. On Tuesday, his crews were helping the village Department of Public Works with a project on Keene Street.

“It’s not a new concept that Albany or anyone else has come up with,” he said. “We do shared services with everybody, and more so recently with Franklin County, and I’m now the president of the Franklin County Highway Association.

“I don’t think they know half of what we do here, what we’re responsible for, and how we do shared services with the village and everybody to try and save taxpayers’ money.”

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One other choice

The highway superintendent face-off is one of two contested races in the town this year. Jordanna Mallach and Tracey Schrader, both of whom are Democrats, are running for the town board seats held by Ron Keough, a Republican, and Ed Goetz, a Democrat who was endorsed by the Republican caucus but not his own party’s.

Town Supervisor Mike Kilroy is running unopposed for re-election, endorsed by both the Democratic and Republican parties, as is town Justice Michael “Beef” Bevilacqua. The town Republicans have endorsed town Clerk Patricia Gillmett for re-election as well.