SARANAC LAKE — Three months after a village election brought in new board leadership, the village offices also now have a largely new staff after turnover in several key positions.

After the election, there was a lot of turnover of positions. The village manager was released from his position. The village clerk and deputy clerk/treasurer resigned. The treasurer, who had previously planned a retirement this spring, retired. The development code administrator’s position was eliminated by the board and the code enforcement officer resigned.

The village brought on people to serve in interim positions to fill several of these roles over the past few months. Those interim appointments became official positions on July 5, but all village trustees did not realize this and believed the people in the manager, clerk, treasurer and deputy village clerk/treasurer positions were still interim appointments at Monday’s meeting.

This appointment process, as with many decisions by the new village board, has not been without controversy — Trustee Rich Shapiro, who has repeatedly raised concerns about decisions made by new officials, has taken issue with several parts of the appointing process, including the advertising process.

These positions are usually appointed by the mayor with approval by the village board. At the request of Shapiro in April, the village board passed a resolution to bring these interim employees on for a three-month probationary period with the condition that the village accept more applications for these jobs from May 4 until June 22.

The resolution the village board approved at its organizational meeting in April says these positions were interim positions until July 5. At the board’s June 27 meeting, after the application deadline on June 22, there was no official board discussion of the applications, so the positions became permanent on July 5.

Erik Stender is now the village manager. Amanda Hopf is now the clerk. Patrick Murphy is now the deputy village clerk/treasurer. Bachana Tsiklauri is now the treasurer. Chris McClatchie is now the code enforcement officer. McClatchie was appointed by the village manager. Mayor Jimmy Williams said no board approval was needed for this appointment.

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New treasurer

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On Monday, the board authorized the appointment of Bachana Tsiklauri to the village treasurer position.

Jeremiah St. Louis had been holding the interim treasurer position, but Williams said St. Louis unexpectedly pulled his application to remain in the job because he had issues pop up at his private business and needed to be there.

Two trustees motioned to take a vote on Tsiklauri’s authorization, but Shapiro requested they table it until a later date. He said he only saw Tsiklauri’s resume on Friday morning and has “serious questions” he wanted to resolve.

Shapiro said he had asked Williams to pull the item from the agenda before the weekend but got “no response.” Williams said Shapiro had asked in an email for a background check on Tsiklauri, which Williams said has never been done before and was unnecessary.

Shapiro asked for an executive session for the board to discuss a personnel matter, so he could discuss “misgivings” he has with Tsiklauri’s resume outside of a public forum. Williams said the board had no choice but to vote on this appointment and could not wait for an executive session.

He added that the treasurer position has been empty for a week and Tsiklauri cannot start for another two weeks. That’s almost a month with a very important position vacant, he said, and he doesn’t want it to be vacant longer than it needs to be.

“It’s better to wait two weeks and make sure you put the right person in the job, than to put the wrong person in the job,” Shapiro said.

Williams said there will still be a three-month probationary period for all employees, during which they can be dismissed if there are any issues.

Shapiro said he was concerned about “big gaps” in Tsiklauri’s work history, working jobs for a time and then taking several months off.

Williams ran through Tsiklauri’s life story to explain the gaps — waiting on a significant other to finish college, moving to Manhattan and having that job derailed by the pandemic.

On Tuesday, Shapiro said he didn’t find this a “satisfactory explanation.”

Williams said Tsiklauri’s accounting degree, experience as an accountant and local connections make him a fine applicant for the job.

“He’s got a hell of a resume and a lot of local relationships,” Williams said.

Trustee Matt Scollin pointed out that Tsiklauri was the only applicant for treasurer. Shapiro said this was the fault of what he believes was a “half-a****” advertising effort by the village.

Shapiro accused Williams of hiring his friends and running the village like his “personal business.” Williams said he had not met Tsiklauri before two weeks ago.

Shaprio said he wants the board to interview Tsiklauri. Williams said there’s no reason to do that. The board was voting on approving a mayoral appointment.

Williams said he may want to have a board conversation about the positions to “make it official.” In the future, he thinks the village should clarify resolutions better before they vote on them. He said the time to bring up the complaints Shapiro has was back when when the board voted on the interim appointments and advertising process, not afterwards.

Shapiro’s motion to table the vote on Tsiklauri’s appointment did not get seconded by any other board members, so it failed.

The authorization of Tsiklauri as treasurer was passed by Scollin, Trustee Kelly Brunette and Trustee Tom Catillaz, with Shapiro voting against it.

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Advertising dispute

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Ads for the village manager, treasurer, clerk and clerk/treasurer ran May 13, 14 and 16 in the Enterprise classifieds and on May 13 in the Lake Placid News. They were also posted on the village’s website and social media accounts. Shapiro said this was not enough. He and Catillaz wanted a display ad in the paper. Both trustees also said they don’t think social media is a good way to advertise for prominent village jobs.

Williams said he thinks they advertised enough for these positions. He said Shapiro was arguing over “semantics.”

There were three applications for the manager job; three for clerk; two for treasurer and two for deputy village clerk/treasurer. One of the applications for treasurer, which was submitted by St. Louis, who held the interim position, was rescinded, so there was really only one applicant.

Brunette said she was disappointed by the low number of applications. She thought the village may have been able to do more, but wondered if that would just be in vain. It’s a challenge to hire everywhere, she said. She also said the village has done national searches for positions before, and they didn’t help because the hire came from the North Country.

Brunette said she didn’t want to change the village’s advertising plan since the board agreed on it in April.

Shapiro believes the village delayed discussion over changing the advertising methods until it was too late. He thinks this was done on purpose and accused Williams of not putting a lot of effort into advertising these jobs as a way to keep the people he appointed in the interim in place.

“That’s James pulling his BS again,” Shapiro said, referring to Williams. “This is absolutely, positively wrong. He’s operating the village like it’s his own private business.”

Scollin said he believes the village’s advertising effort was in good faith and that the board has had ample opportunities to be involved in the appointment process, which has been more open than usual.

Brunette reviewed the applications. Shapiro and Catillaz said they were never given the applications. Catillaz said he had requested to see them.

Brunette said the other applications were “underwhelming.” One person applied for clerk, manager and deputy clerk/treasurer and didn’t have skills specific to any of these jobs, she said.

She is confident in the people Williams selected for the roles.

Brunette said these positions couldn’t remain vacant and the village had to fill them quickly. She relied on “blind faith in the mayor and good intuition” to trust his judgement and she said it worked out.

The board “took a leap of faith” on his picks and she likes them.

Brunette said she’s been pleasantly surprised with Stender’s knowledge about the village.

Shapiro said Murphy has been “doing very well” and that Stender is working hard and doing “OK.”

“It’s a hell of a learning curve,” Shapiro said.

Catillaz said the people appointed might be fine, but there might be better candidates out there who do not know to apply.

“I do not have any complaints about any of these people, but it’s been a very short time,” Catillaz said.

He said the village should not have lost as many people as it did. He thinks the spat of resignations could have been avoided with better communication, but he was unsure what could have been done to keep them on the staff, because he wasn’t in the offices when decisions were made.

Shapiro said the village was not advertising for the positions “in good faith.” He said he will be addressing his complaints about the appointing process at the next village board meeting.

Scollin said he may want to address the formalization of these permanent positions at the next board meeting.

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Salaries

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The village approved new salaries for the manager, clerk, treasurer and deputy village clerk/treasurer positions last month.

The village approved a $80,000 salary for the village manager, $8,966 less than what his predecessor was earning. Stender agreed to take a lower salary than his predecessor because he has less experience and the money cut from his salary was redistributed to employees in the village Department of Public Works.

The village approved a $60,000 salary for the village clerk, $1,700 less than her predecessor was earning.

The village approved a $60,000 salary for the village treasurer, $1,800 more than his predecessor was earning.

The village approved a $55,000 salary for the deputy village clerk/treasurer, $4,500 more than his predecessor was earning.