TUPPER LAKE — There is a three-way race for the village board on the ballot today, but only two candidates will be elected.

Republican Clint Hollingsworth is running for reelection to continue his work on the board. Republican Jason McClain entered his first political campaign this summer, as outgoing Trustee David “Haji” Maroun announced he would be leaving the board. Maple Leaf Party member Eric Shaheen is running on a campaign promising “real change.”

The Enterprise interviewed Hollingsworth but was not able to make contact with McClain or Shaheen by press time.

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Clint Hollingsworth

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Hollingsworth has been on the village board for four years and is running to be on for two more.

He believes the village has made a lot of progress in the past few years but that much of it has been erased from people’s minds this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the summer of 2019 saw the town “bustling” with events and visitors: at concerts at the newly completed municipal bandshell; on hiking trails, lakes and rivers; and at the Municipal Park, which hosted several events and had improvements on its baseball fields and skate park.

“We were going in the right direction,” Hollingsworth said.

This summer, he said, has been like “The Twilight Zone,” with empty venues and parks.

Hollingsworth said if the pandemic ended today, he would like to get the village back to normal as soon as possible and get events going again to kick-start the economy. In the meantime, he said there is not much the village can do. Decisions are coming from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and local governments do not have much say in their reopening strategy.

He said he has been and will continue to lobby for the North Country’s coronavirus-related restrictions to be loosened, as long as virus numbers here remain low.

A silver lining this summer, he said, has been an increase in people looking to move to rural areas like Tupper Lake, as life became more remote-accessible. He said this improves the village’s tax base.

He said Tupper Lake’s housing stock could be increased by investing in vacant homes that are not quite “zombie houses” — houses that have been abandoned during foreclosures — but are not being used as homes.

Hollingsworth said he supports the state’s rail-trail project that began construction earlier this month, broadband expansion, the Adirondack Sky Center and the River Pigs professional baseball team, saying each of these projects brings jobs, industry and visitors to Tupper Lake.

Hollingsworth said he has not taken a position on the issue of town-village consolidation yet, adding that a state presentation on the issue in July 2019 was lacking data and did not inform him enough to be confident in a decision.

He is against dissolving the village and is undecided on the idea of coterminous government — which would involve the village annexing all of the adjacent territory in the town, essentially expanding its boundaries to match those of the town. He said he believes a one-government system could be more productive and efficient, but he also said it is not a “cut and dry” decision.

He described the act of consolidating government as “shaking a snow globe.” He wants to make sure everything will “fall back in place” before deciding to give local government a shake.

Hollingsworth took issue with Shaheen’s campaign slogan: “It’s time for a real change.”

Hollingsworth said the board can always do better, but he feels there does not need to be a large shift.

Shaheen has also campaigned on stopping property taxes from rising by finding other methods of generating income.

Hollingsworth said he does not believe this will be enough.

“Taxes always go up,” he said, “because the cost of operating always goes up.”

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Jason McClain

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McClain has been running alongside Hollingsworth, appearing on signs and in ads together. They are both Republicans, and Hollingsworth said he believes McClain is “level-headed.”

McClain worked for Hollingsworth’s business, Hollingsworth Construction, for several years.

McClain has campaigned on being trustworthy and amicable. He said he hopes to heal people’s lack of trust of politicians. He also says he wants to heal a perceived divide between the town and village boards.

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Eric Shaheen

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Shaheen has campaigned on change and transparency.

In advertisements and in social media posts he has said the board needs a “fresh perspective,” and believes he can support the village’s business and tourism aspirations. He wants to develop hiking, biking and snowmobile trails.

He also wants to keep taxes from rising.

“The village board needs to stop raising property taxes,” he writes in an advertisement. “Instead we need to work on growing our tax base by helping local businesses grow.”

Shaheen has also promised to be transparent.

“My bottom line is all village taxpayers need to know what’s going on in village government,” he writes in an advertisement. “Right now they don’t. That will change when I’m elected.”

In a Facebook post on May 7, he gave what he dubbed his “first official rant on Facebook,” taking issue with the village board’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said members of the board lied about customers not wearing masks in local businesses and said village Mayor Paul Maroun, who is also a Franklin County legislator, should not have mandated mask-wearing in Franklin County.