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Police called to Saranac Lake village board meeting

SARANAC LAKE — At the start of a Monday village work session on short-term vacation rental regulations, Mayor Jimmy Williams called the police chief to remove former village attorney and board member Paul Van Cott from the meeting, saying he was being “unruly.” Van Cott left the meeting before an SLPD officer arrived, saying he would not waste their time.

Williams said Van Cott was violating the rules of the meeting and disrupting the conversation. Van Cott said he felt the meeting was “more autocratic than democratic.”

The rest of the village board either outright opposed Williams’ removal of Van Cott from the meeting, or did not want him to go that far.

“Jim, please don’t do this,” Trustee Tom Catillaz said as Williams was on the phone with the chief.

“Can we move ahead?” Trustee Kelly Brunette asked.

“I think if we can have a productive conversation we should,” Trustee Matt Scollin said. “We can chunk it out but there’s no reason to cast off any sort of subject matter expert.”

Trustee Rich Shapiro agreed.

Van Cott said he was attending the meeting as a village resident who is also a lawyer with 30 years of legal experience in land use codes — he helped write for the village’s code — and who is drafting STR laws for other municipalities. He was there to advocate for the board to fold the STR law into its development code rather than have it be a standalone law. This idea was discussed later in the meeting after he had left.

The incident started within the first minutes of the meeting when Van Cott responded to something Williams said to say he believed it was not true.

It appears the argument was partially based on a misunderstanding or unclear communication between the two. Williams had said if the STR law became part of the development code, it would mean that other existing land uses would have to come back before the development board.

Konkoski interpreted this more as a question directed at her, posed as a statement. The statement was not quite right, she said, but she didn’t get the chance to respond until 10 minutes later because Williams and Van Cott were having a dispute.

Things got heated fast. Within moments, the two were speaking over each other and lobbing accusations.

Williams said Van Cott’s input was appreciated, but said he could only speak during public comment. He was not invited to speak at the meeting.

Williams had invited North Elba Code Officer Michael Orticelle and Saranac Lake village Community Development Director Jamie Konkoski to the work session to discuss the legislation with the two, so they could provide insight and information.

“I’m glad to help and be part of the panel but you’ve got to speak the truth, man,” Van Cott said.

Shapiro tried to add Van Cott to the list of panelists at the meeting. Williams shut that down. Scollin asked if they could ask Van Cott questions during the meeting. Williams said no.

“I’m not indulging this,” Williams said. “This is not productive. It is not efficient.”

Williams said Van Cott “inserted himself” into the discussion.

“You don’t have sole authority on who gets to talk,” Shapiro said to Williams.

Van Cott has been sending emails with draft legal language for the snowmobile and STR laws the village is discussing for the past two weeks. Williams said these emails have been passed to village attorneys for reference, but Van Cott is a member of the public and is not entitled to speak during a work session, Williams said.

Van Cott accused Williams of only inviting people who would tell his story or support him.

Orticelle later said he was going to agree with Van Cott and said he believes Van Cott should be involved in the process.

Police called

There were times when it appeared the tensions were going to calm down, but they kept rising during the 10-minute long back-and-forth.

“I’ll wait until I’m called on,” Van Cott said at one point.

“Do I have your word on that?” Williams said.

“Do I have your word that you’ll tell the truth and not spin things in your favor?” Van Cott responded.

Things escalated again.

Around eight minutes in, Williams gave an ultimatum.

“I’m going to say this one more time,” he said. I’m chairing the meeting. If you don’t respect the rules of the meeting, I will have you removed by the local authorities.”

Van Cott spoke again and Williams called SLPD Chief Darin Perrotte.

“I’ve got a person who will not respect the rules of the meeting and I would like him removed,” Williams said from the board table.

Shapiro asked if the mayor has authority to tell someone to leave, or if the board had to take a vote on it. No one knew the answer.

“The rest of board does not think he should be removed,” Shapiro said as Williams was on the phone.

“We’re not going to play games all night,” Williams said.

“Call the chief back and tell him to save the trip. I’m not going to waste his time,” Van Cott said as he grabbed his coat, adding before he left the room, “You’re really hurting our village, Jimmy.”

On Tuesday, Van Cott said he waited around and met with police officers outside the town hall. He said he felt bad for them.

The village board will discuss the changes made on Monday to the draft STR law at its next meeting on Feb. 13.

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