SARANAC LAKE — The village board eliminated Development Code Administrator Paul Blaine’s position on Monday and transferred his duties to Community Development Director Jamie Konkoski in a tense meeting rife with sarcasm and accusations from the board and in the public audience.

It was a controversial vote with a lot of heated discussion. In the end, the resolution passed 3-2. Mayor Jimmy Williams and Trustees Matt Scollin and Kelly Brunette voted yes. Trustee Tom Catillaz voted “absolutely no.” Trustee Rich Shapiro voted “hell no.”

They also voted the same way on a resolution transferring Blaine’s duties to Konkoski.

Scollin said that throughout his campaign he heard from voters about how they felt the code enforcement office arrangement wasn’t working.

“When you’re in a hole, one of the first things you do is stop digging,” Scollin said.

This change means Konkoski is joining Pat Giblin in the code enforcement office department.

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Intentions questioned

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Williams said the decision to eliminate Blaine’s position was a financial one, intended to save the village money by eliminating a position the village created in 2017, which he believes wasn’t working out the way they had hoped.

But Shapiro didn’t see it that way.

“This is just a thinly veiled way to fire him,” Shapiro said. “This is exercising a personal vendetta.”

“This is not a personal vendetta,” Williams said.

“I’m not even going to entertain that. It is not a personal vendetta,” Williams reiterated later, when asked about the exchange after the meeting.

Williams said all three mayoral candidates criticized the code office in their campaigns and that he is trying something new.

Shapiro agreed that the village’s code and zoning system is flawed but said this was not a solution and he thinks it will make it worse.

Williams said he believes the village has been stuck in “paralysis by analysis” over fixing the department.

“If these guys are going to say that this isn’t a good solution, then they need to offer a solution,” he said after the meeting.

There were members of the public who spoke at the meeting who had concerns about Blaine.

“I’m here to thank the village board for removing Paul Blaine,” Bruce Darring said. “I’m just glad to see him gone.”

Darring owns Bruce Darring Custom Woodworking in the village. He was sued by village over the River Walk, which runs through his property. He said contractors don’t want to work in the village because they have “difficulty” working with Blaine.

Calli Shelton also supported the village eliminating the position. She had fought with Blaine over the installation of bike racks for her bike share business Dack Bikes last summer. She thanked the village and Williams for getting her plans approved recently. She had installed the racks last summer before getting approval, saying getting village approval for what she saw as a minor change was unnecessary.

“Somebody gave you a hard time because they were enforcing state codes and so you want to get rid of them,” Shapiro said to Williams. “You campaigned on firing these people.”

Williams again said this was a financial decision.

“Why do we got to get rid of somebody?” Catillaz said.

Williams said it is not financially responsible to pay $74,000 a year for a position they don’t think is working.

“How many more people are going to leave our employment before we stop and look at what’s going on?” Catillaz asked. “This is not a good plan, Jimmy.”

Before the weekend, Blaine told the Enterprise that he thought the resolution to eliminate his position was “disappointing.” He felt there is misplaced animosity directed toward him that should be directed at the code he was enforcing. He felt the board didn’t have all the facts and that if they did, they’d keep his position.

Blaine recently joined the Teamsters Local 687, the union representing village employees.

Shapiro questioned if the village can take duties from a union member and transfer them to a non-union member without union approval. That question was not answered in the meeting.

When Williams said the village may possibly need to hire more people to work in the code enforcement department in the future, Shapiro said that could open the village up to a lawsuit.

“If you recreate a position of code enforcement … we will get sued,” Shapiro said. “It’s wrong legally, it’s wrong morally and it’s wrong for the effectiveness.”

If the village chooses to resume the position within four years, they’d have to offer it to Blaine first, according to village Manager Erik Stender.

“If you change the job title and hire someone else, it’s not necessarily open for a lawsuit,” Stender said after the meeting.

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“Overwhelmed”

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Konkoski found out that she’d be taking on Blaine’s duties this past Thursday. On Monday, she said she was “a little overwhelmed.” She had been thinking about it all weekend.

“I was hoping for a little more discussion,” she said, of the meeting. “I wish there was a clearer vision.”

She’s currently in charge of the village’s grants, long-term plans, economic development, facilitating advisory boards and the new housing task force. Now, she’ll have to learn the zoning code.

“I’ve never administered a zoning code,” Konkoski said.

Joe Plumb, a village resident, wondered if the village is creating a “bottleneck” for Giblin, because Konkoski can’t answer all the technical questions Blaine could. He said the village was creating more work with less staff. He saw this change as “working backwards.”

Tyler Merriam, a village resident, told the board he was concerned about the workload that is being passed on to Konkoski and said he hopes the village gives her all the support she needs in her new role.

Williams said he and Stender will be more involved in the code department than the past mayor and manager. He said Village Administrative Assistant Cassandra Hopkins will now work full-time with Konkoski instead of splitting her time with Blaine.

Scollin said he would not have voted without confidence in Konkoski.

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Workload

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Shapiro said he thinks the change is “going in the wrong direction” and weakening the code office rather than strengthening it.

Shapiro listed off the things Blaine does that he thinks Konkoski doesn’t have time for or isn’t qualified to do. He said the village has 400 outstanding building permits, half of which are active; there are projects currently seeking variances and subdivisions; Blaine issues permits; and the new village housing task force will be discussing short-term rental regulations soon.

Shapiro said the village should do what former village community development director Jeremy Evans suggested in a guest commentary in the Enterprise earlier this month and add more staff.

Williams said he doesn’t believe adding new people is going to help.

Shapiro said state building code says the village has to inspect rental units every three years.

“We’re not doing it,” he said. “We only do them if a tenant complains.”

He said that means hundreds of units may not meet safety standards and the village would be liable if there was an injury or death there.

Williams said those inspections aren’t getting done now, with the current system.

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Communication breakdown

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Shapiro said he thinks there needs to be more communication in the village. He said nobody heard about these resolutions before Thursday and that he learned about them by reading the meeting agenda. He said village staff were “blindsided” by the resolutions.

Williams said Shapiro hasn’t been talking with him either.

Shapiro said he thinks big decisions are being made too soon.

“Three of you guys (Williams, Scollin and Stender) have been involved with this for three weeks now,” Shapiro said. “That’s not enough time to understand what all the people are doing and some members of the board have not even spoken to the person whose job you’re eliminating to find out what he does.”

He wasn’t happy that the resolutions were passed by the three newest members of the board, with the two senior members’ opposition.

“Should Tom and I just go home and the three of you decide everything?” Shapiro said. “We have to work as a team. There’s no ‘I’ in team, there’s no ‘mayor’ in team.”

Allie Pelletieri, a former village trustee who was appointed as the development board chair by Williams, told Shapiro to “join the team.”

“The team could join me,” Shapiro said.

Criticism of board members continued into public comment.

“Rich Shapiro is the last person who should be lecturing others about personal vendettas,” village resident David Lynch said.

When Margo Kampf accused Shapiro of being rude to village residents, a lot of voices rose on the board, in the public audience and among village staff.

“You need to shut this down, Jimmy Williams,” village Clerk Kareen Tyler said.

Some village staff said Kampf was making a personal attack, not public comment, and Catillaz said since she lives outside the village, he didn’t think she had the right to speak.

At the end of the meeting, Williams said these conversations can be uncomfortable but worth it.

“The cost of not allowing that or cutting it off short, I think, is greater than that uncomfortability,” he said.

Rocky Nogales, who lives just outside the village, said he appreciated the debate and questions.

Williams added that he hopes for less “negative energy” in the future.

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Bruce Darring sued the village of Saranac Lake. The village sued Darring. An earlier version of this article misspelled Calli Shelton’s name, and incorrectly said that Shelton supported Development Code Administrator Paul Blaine’s removal. She supported the village eliminating his position. The Enterprise regrets the errors.