Saranac Lake’s skateboard park remained open well into April, but the village closed it and cordoned it off to deter people from congregating there due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Enterprise photo — Peter Crowley)

SARANAC LAKE — Go ahead with fireworks for July 4? Prepare to reopen the beach? Village officials are discussing, but not yet able to answer, summer-related questions as unknowns persist about when and how society will reopen from lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think everything is evolving, from skateparks to Fourth of July fireworks, and it’s hard to know all the answers right now, and we’re all doing the best we can,” Mayor Clyde Rabideau summarized at the end of Monday’s village Board of Trustees meeting, conducted by Zoom video conference. “In two weeks (May 11, the board’s next scheduled meeting) let’s revisit the subject, and I’m sure the circumstances and facts at hand will be that much more updated so we can make a more informed decision.”

Village Manager John Sweeney opened a discussion earlier in the meeting by asking, “Are we going to proceed with July 4th fireworks?”

Rabideau and Trustee Tom Catillaz leaned toward having the fireworks anyway and telling people to socially distance themselves. Trustees Melinda Little and Patrick Murphy worried if that would be safe.

“It’s America’s birthday,” Rabideau said. “So many people can watch it far apart.”

“I think by July 4, people are not going to be all that careful,” Little said. “I think they’re going to be stir-crazy.”

The trustees agreed, though, that they don’t have enough information to decide yet.

The same went for the village beach on Lake Colby. Sweeney said he will go ahead with the usual process to reopen it, but wait and see how things proceed.

Board members agreed, although Murphy reiterated the cautious messages coming from the governor’s office and county health departments.

Sweeney has ordered the closure of village park facilities where people might congregate, such playgrounds, sports courts and the skateboard park. Trustee Rich Shapiro, a driving force behind establishing the skatepark, asked about this, and Little said she thinks the skatepark, at least, could be reopened.

“It seems like a socially distancing kind of sport … unlike basketball, for instance,” she said. “I’d be in favor of opening it back up.”

“If you open one, you’ve got to open them all,” Catillaz said.

“They’re kind of different, though, aren’t they, Tom?” Little replied.

“I just want us to be consistent in whatever we do,” Murphy said.

Music on the Green, a free summer concert series run by Joe Dockery, takes place in a village park, Berkeley Green, and uses a grant secured by the village. Dockery said Wednesday he has bands booked for most of the weekly slots, although he had a couple of slots open when he stopped booking as the coronavirus lockdown began. He said he plans to wait until after the state lockdown ends on May 15 to decide whether the series will go on, and if so, he can fill those openings.

As for the grant, village Community Development Director Jamie Konkoski said it has a clause allowing the funds to be rolled over for next year in case of an emergency, and that the pandemic qualifies. Dockery said Wednesday that he he hopes sponsors would roll over their money, too.

The pandemic prompted a different kind of board discussion when Little asked the village to forgive late fees for unpaid water-sewer bills, as a kindness to those who have lost jobs and other income in the lockdown. Rabideau said the idea has merit but that the village would have to change its law to do so, which would take at least 10 days to give notice and invite public comment. Village Treasurer Beth Benson said she has to send unpaid bills to county tax collectors next week, so there wouldn’t be time to do anything different.

“Well, I’m sorry we didn’t talk about this sooner,” Little said.