Trucks at the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department’s firehouse are parked so close to the wall, firefighters have to turn sideways to get in them. On Monday, the village board approved a $2.5 million reserve fund to put money toward a new station, which may share space with other emergency service departments in Saranac Lake. (Provided photo — Brendan Keough)

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Village Board voted Monday to set aside $2.5 million in a reserve fund to put toward an emergency services building to be built sometime in the future, possibly on land the village moved to purchase this month behind the existing fire hall.

It’s unclear if the Saranac Lake Volunteer Rescue Squad next door to the fire station, and the village police department across town, will ultimately join the fire department at this new proposed building.

Firefighters from the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department were excited to have the money set aside by the village to improve their workspace.

The vote — at the last board meeting for Trustee Melinda Little, who lost her bid for mayor, and for Mayor Clyde Rabideau, who announced his retirement last year — was unanimous.

Earlier this month, the board tabled the vote on creating this fund after public and board opposition to the board making a decision being made without much prior notice. A special meeting on the fund was announced two days before a vote was scheduled to take place. Three trustees agreed to give the public — and themselves — more time to comment on and learn about what they were voting on. Little also said it’d be better to discuss the fund during a meeting about the rest of the village budget.

At the special meeting, the board approved the purchase of a a 0.40 acre parcel of land at 33 Depot St. — behind the current firehall — where the new building is expected to be built. The village in working on finalizing the sale from HES Ventures LLC for $165,000.

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Request to table again

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On Monday, Mayor-elect Jimmy Williams was the first to speak in a public hearing. He asked the board to table the vote until he and the rest of the new board — Trustee-elect Matt Scollin and returning Trustee Kelly Brunette — take office.

“I’m 100% committed to building a much-needed emergency services building,” Williams said. “In one week’s time, I am going to be responsible to every Saranac Laker. … I’d like to be able to tell them who the money’s for.”

He said the new board will be the ones to implement all the bills passed on Monday night. He said, as of Sunday night, no one from the village had talked to the rescue squad or chief of police. Williams said he wanted clarity on if those departments would join the fire department in a new building.

“There’s no reason to rush some of these through tonight,” Williams said. “I want to provide an answer to people when they ask me what (or who) the money’s for. … I want to say something beyond ‘I’m not sure yet.'”

Little said this is just the beginning of the project. The board was not making final decisions, she said, just setting up a fund to be used in the future.

Trustee Rich Shapiro described it as moving money from one savings account to another savings account. He said it allows them to hire an architectural and engineering firm and apply for grants. He later pointed out that three of the people who voted to approve the fund — himself, Brunette and Tom Catillaz — will still be on the board next week.

Village resident Fred Balzac also asked the board to table the vote. He said the past mayors and boards have had years to get this done.

“Why did you all decide until the very last month of Mayor Rabideau’s service?” Balzac asked. “Highly curious.”

Jeremy Evans, a village resident who ran against Williams for mayor in the March 15 election, had previously asked the board to table the vote.

“Take time and do it right,” he said earlier this month.

After several weeks of discussion, on Monday, he felt it was time for the village to “move forward” and approve the fund.

He said the resolution’s language is not specific on what the money is for. That’s good, he said. It leaves it open for the next board to decide.

In a mayoral candidate forum during the campaign, Evans criticized the village for having a large fund balance. He said this transfer of around half the money out of the unrestricted fund would bring the fund “back in line with best practices.”

Shapiro estimated the entire project will cost upwards of $12 million.

Catillaz asked who will bring the three emergency departments together to finally discuss if a shared building is possible and desired. SLVFD Chief Brendan Keough said he will do that next week.

Williams said he plans to create a working group with the three departments to create a clear end goal and a “100-year solution.”

The fund, initially titled the “Police and Fire Capital Reserve Account” has been renamed the “Public Safety Facilities Reserve Fund,” to potentially include all or multiple of the village’s emergency services.

The SLVRS is an independent agency providing ambulance and rescue services with a building next to the fire station.

Village officials have described the police station as “decrepit.” They say it only has enough space to question one person at a time and only one bathroom.

Members of the board have said they’d like to combine all three of these departments into one building.

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Condition of fire station

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The firehouse is currently landlocked on a small portion of land. The 10,000-square foot building and parking lot are on two parcels totaling 0.59 acres. Keough said trucks are crammed in, the members are cramped and parts of the building are in disrepair.

The original bay of the building was built in the 1800s and sized for horse and buggy storage. The other two bays were built in the 1960s.

Firefighters have to turn sideways to climb in and some trucks are parked merely six inches from the walls, the floor in the first bay is falling apart and the second floor is not handicap accessible, according to Keough.

Keough said firefighters want to stay put in the central location on Broadway, but the condition of the building is becoming “dire.”

Keough said since the last meeting, all the board members — as well as Williams and Scollin — have visited the fire station.

“The building really speaks for itself. The condition really speaks for itself,” Keough said Monday.

He described the fund as “only seed money” — a start for the beginning of the project.

Keough said every year the village delays building a new building, the cost rises, as does the burden on the taxpayer

The fire department’s wanted a new building for nearly four decades now and a recent advancement with HES Ventures allowed the purchase of land to move the project forward.

In 2012, the village spent $50,000 on a study for relocating or renovating the fire department, which “didn’t go anywhere,” Rabideau said. He’s regretted not making progress on the new firehouse, he said earlier this month.