SARANAC LAKE — The two candidates running for the Franklin County District 7 seat in the Nov. 8 election want voters to know that while there are four different names on the ballot, they are the only two still campaigning in the race.

Jeff Branch is running on the independent “Common Ground” party line. Danielle Carr is running on the independent “Independent North Country” party line.

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Branch

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Branch is an educational and vocational supervisor for incarcerated individuals at Franklin Correctional Facility in Malone. He’s like a principal, he said.

Fourteen years at this job, he said, has prepared him for work at the county level — he budgets, oversees people and makes decisions everyday, while getting to know legislators around Malone.

He’s got experience on government boards — nearly a decade on the Saranac Lake village board and 4.5 years on the Saranac Lake Central School District board of education.

“My whole philosophy on government is we’re there to help, not to do,” Branch said.

Branch said he swore he would never return to politics, but as he’s looking to retire soon, he wants to stay busy, and he thinks he can be a help to the county, coming to the board with no “baggage.”

“I think that there’s way too much time spent — not necessarily on the county board, but in politics in general — on bickering between parties,” Branch said. “I’m fed up with that.”

And he said other people he speaks to are fed up, too. Branch said he wants to work for everyone, regardless of party, not play “partisan games” and be a “public servant for all.”

“I get along with most people,” he said.

Branch said he’s got experience in conflict resolution in his job and boards he sits on.

“You want to talk about conflicts? Sit a year on a hockey board,” he said with a laugh.

He also said he’s hard working.

“Whatever I do, I’m all-in,” Branch said.

The key issue Branch sees in the immediate future for the county is the high price of fuel oil this winter. He said people he talks to are worried about heating their homes this season, but he feels he’s not hearing a lot of people talk about this.

He says that Franklin County taxes fuel oil, while Essex County doesn’t. Branch said he wants to look at potentially lowering or suspending that 2.5% tax rate. It wouldn’t be a lot, but it would be something, he said.

He also said he’d like to put more money into the county’s heating assistance program.

Branch has been listening in to the county’s budgeting sessions, which the board is in the midst of now, and said he sees a “healthy fund balance.” The county needs this balance to be healthy, he said, to save for a “rainy day.”

But he said these high fuel prices could be considered a “rainy day” use, and he wants to look at using some of that fund balance to put more money into the county’s heating assistance program, lowering taxes or even funding some housing programs.

He pointed out that as fuel oil prices rise, it costs landlords more to heat the homes they rent, which means costs get passed down to renters, raising rental rates.

Housing has been an issue for years, he said, and while there’s no “silver bullet” solution, there’s a collection of solutions — collective grant process, zoning changes and potentially a land bank.

If elected, he said he would want to represent the county on the local Saranac Lake village housing task force. Branch said from the county level he can reach to the state for aid.

Branch feels the southern end of the county feels the hurt from the affordable housing shortage more than in Malone in the north.

He said he’d like to see more services provided for people living in the southern end of the county. Branch said over 50% of Franklin County taxes come from the southern end of the county, Districts 6 and 7. But the south end of the county has significantly fewer offices, fewer hours and fewer services than the north.

“I hate to be that guy, but we need to get ours, too,” Branch said.

He wants to learn what people here want, and ask for it.

When Branch announced he was running, one of the reasons he cited was the county board’s decision to cancel its tourism promotion contract with the Franklin County Economic Development Corporation and give that contract to a new in-house county office.

“The way it went about wasn’t right. It was kind of a shady deal,” Branch said.

He felt the change “wasn’t well thought-out.”

“It wasn’t broken. I think it was working well,” Branch said. “Why did we fix something that wasn’t broken?”

In the unexpected changeover, he said some grants and projects didn’t carry over. For example, he said a grant the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Committee — which he chairs — had for an informational kiosk fell though.

He said he would explore the possibility of returning the tourism contract to the EDC, but he said he wants to learn a lot more first before taking that position.

Branch said he would like to continue current District 7 legislator Lindy Ellis’ work on broadband expansion. Being on the SLCSD school board during the school-from-home portion of the pandemic, he said, opened his eyes to how essential internet access is for many aspects of life. He called broadband access a “necessity of life.”

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Carr

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Carr owns a counseling practice in Saranac Lake, and said she sees the impact the stresses of the lack of things like housing and child care have on her clients.

A home day care program Lewis and Jefferson counties started in 2021 was successful, she said, opening several at-home day care sites within months. She said Franklin County needs this.

Carr said many county issues tie back into the shortages of affordable housing and child care. Both these things are crucial to emotional development in children, she said. And also, to economic development.

Many of these are connected issues, she said, but not everyone understands how day care is connected to economic development. She said she does.

“I’ve got a good head for how all the systems are connected,” Carr said. “If we make one decision, how does it impact layers of different groups of people?”

She said she’s had thousands of conversations with people in many different parts of the local community, and can bring that perspective to decisions she makes at the county.

“My husband says that I always have 17 browsers in my head,” Carr said with a laugh.

Carr said she’s connected to the working family. She believes she’d be able to have her finger on the pulse of what’s happening through conversations she has at soccer or dance practice, or though her work.

“I’ve been very excited of this idea of, I work with people on the ground, and then I can be in the room making decisions at a higher level, so I’m going to be getting real-time feedback of what people are experiencing,” Carr said.

She said this connection would allow the county board to know if decisions they make are working as they should.

Carr said her goal would to be “financially responsible while providing the best quality of life possible.”

“That’s balancing financial responsibility and services,” she said. “Asking ‘how do we be most efficient with our money to provide the most services we can?'”

Her job is to listen to people’s needs and get them services, she said. There are many services available to the clients of her counseling practice, so her job is to find the right, most effective ones for them. She said she can do the same for the county.

She said the government shouldn’t throw money at programs, it should choose where to spend wisely.

Carr said as she campaigns she’s felt good energy from the people in local leadership, from local government to committees and even the Franklin County board itself. She said she wants to be part of that team.

At a county budget meeting held last Thursday, she said she saw the board’s focus is not on party politics — it’s about working together.

The county currently has little debt and an auditor said its finances are in an “outstanding” position with a large fund balance.

Some people criticize large fund balances, Carr said. They argue that the county shouldn’t just let that money sit there, that the county should spend it. But she said it plays a role in how the state rates the county’s financial situation, which influences the amount of financial support it gets from the state.

In 2015, when the county had a $1.8 million fund balance, Carr said the county had a BBB rating. Now, with a $27.7 million balance in 2021, she said the county has an A+ rating.

Back when it had the BBB rating, in the state’s eyes, the county didn’t manage it’s money well, she said. This meant the county paid higher interest rates for loans and might not get approval for all its infrastructure projects. A larger fund balance means lower interest rates, she said, which keeps the tax rate low.

Carr said she doesn’t need to feel like she’s the expert on everything. She said she’s willing and excited to talk with people who are experts — individuals, task forces or committees. She also wants to connect local groups to state level resources.

Carr said she’d like to get the county board to hold meetings in Saranac Lake a couple times a year, to get southern Franklin County residents involved in their board and feeling represented.

On Thursday, the county held a joint public hearing on the tentative budget with remote call-in locations at the Harrietstown and Tupper Lake town halls. Carr said legislators said this was the most well-attended meeting they’ve had in a while, which she said points to people wanting the change to be involved.

Carr’s voting address is at her counseling office in the heart of the village of Saranac Lake, and she owns another house in Brighton. She said she spends a lot of time at her office, an old house, where she eats, sleeps and showers. She said she’s always voted in the village from there.

Carr said she’s been talking with Ellis about the projects Ellis currently has underway in the county. Carr said she wants to make the transition from Ellis to the next legislator smooth, and believes she’s the best candidate to complete the work.

“I have been having conversations about what kind of projects (Ellis) has been working on,” Carr said. “I want to create a great transition plan so that all the hard work that she has been doing can be completed.”

She said, if elected, she’d work with Ellis after the election on a transition plan.

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Odd ballot this year

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The two candidates on the major party lines have dropped out of the race. Democrat Lindy Ellis, the current legislator, and Republican Leigh Wenske are not campaigning or seeking votes, but their names will still appear on the ballot and people will be able to vote for them. They dropped out after the deadline to remove their names from the ballot had already passed.

In the case that one of them is the highest vote-getter in the election, they would have two options — accept the win and take the position, or decline the role.

Ellis said if this is the case, she would accept the position. She’s not desiring another term, but said if the voters want her, she will serve. Ellis said her goal would be to focus on building out broadband, affordable housing and child care to support young families.

Wenske said if he gets the most votes, he will decline the position.

Franklin County Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Tracy Sparks said if someone declines an election win, the decision of who would fill that seat would go to the legislature, which would appoint someone. This appointment could be anyone, not just the pool of candidates.

Wenske has thrown his support behind Branch for the county seat. He said he dropped out of the race after learning that Branch was running because he believes Branch would make a better legislator.

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Voting information

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Election Day is Nov. 8. Polls on that day will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Early voting at the Franklin County Courthouse has started. The one polling location for early voting is at 355 West Main St., Suite 161, Malone, and lasts until Nov. 6. This voting site is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Nov. 1 and 3, the offices will be open from 12 to 8 p.m.

The last day to deliver an absentee ballot application in person at the county offices in Malone is Nov. 7.

Absentee ballots for the Nov. 8 election must reach the county board of election by close of the polls on Election Day or be postmarked no later than the day of the election and received by Nov. 15.