LAKE CLEAR — Councilman Johnny Williams was officially appointed as the alternate airport security coordinator at the town-owned Adirondack Regional Airport by the Harrietstown Town Council on Thursday.

This was a position that Supervisor Jordanna Mallach proposed that she fill and be compensated with $20,000 stipend in the town budget this year. But after public backlash to this plan, the board cut the raise before passing the budget last month and to curb spending, Williams stepped up and volunteered for the job.

When he offered to volunteer earlier this month, Williams said this is not a “Best-case scenario for anyone.” It’s a big time commitment and Airport Manager Corey Hurwitch had wanted Mallach in the role. But in the fallout of the council cutting her raise from the budget, this was the best way forward, he said.

“I’m, I dare say, excited,” Williams said on Thursday. “It’s something that is tangible that I can help with, so I am excited.”

Williams has previously been registered as an EMT. This certification is “long-expired,” he said, but he does have some training related to this position.

Williams had to vote on his appointment himself, rather than recusing himself, because counselors Tracey Schrader and Jeff Denkenberger were absent from the meeting. The approval needed three votes, so he voted, too.

The council voted to remove Mallach’s proposed raise from the budget on Nov. 16 after feeling pressure from the public as several taxpayers spoke out against the plan in budget hearings, and after several councilors said they wanted a job description for the position.

The stipend, which would’ve raised the supervisor’s salary by 99%, was intended to pay for Mallach to temporarily take on additional duties at the town-owned airport in Lake Clear.

Williams may also need to get certified as an emergency responder at the airport to cover aircraft incidents for Hurwitch when he is away from town.

The emergency responder role would take lots of in-house training, Hurwitch said. If Williams also takes on the emergency responder work, Hurwitch said it would be nice to have more trainings. At the “bare minimum,” he said he needs someone who makes good decisions under pressure.

Hurwitch said his needs and wants are “way more than that,” but as he has a rare vacation scheduled in the near future, he immediately needs these two positions filled.

After a bit of discussion and a long silence at a meeting earlier this month, Williams agreed to take the duty on. He owns several local businesses and has a young family, but said he can tear himself away when Hurwich needs.

This position requires certification through a 40-hour online course and an additional certification to be on file with the TSA. This certification course costs $500, which would be paid for by the town.

This training for Williams is a direct consequence of cutting Mallach’s raise from the budget.

Hurwitch said there has been a “tremendous” increase in the workload at the airport, primarily because of the $8.5 million terminal building renovations and a PFAS investigation, lawsuit, compliance issue, an issue the town has never dealt with before. The town and Hurwitch were also sued earlier this month by a former business at the airport alleging retaliation, breaching lease agreements and a “reign of terror” in airport management.

An attorney defending the town has called the claims in this lawsuit “salacious” and “not based in fact.”

The town’s initial preliminary 2024 budget had funding for an assistant manager at the town-owned Adirondack Regional Airport in Lake Clear, estimated as costing $89,000 total, including benefits.

Mallach offered to do the work herself for additional compensation of $20,000. This would have amounted to a 99% raise, nearly doubling her salary.

Instead, the council put $10,000 into a contingency line in the general fund for “unforeseen circumstances,” and removed the other $10,000 from the budget entirely.

Last year, Mallach attempted to receive a similar $20,000 pay raise. This was because she said she was putting in full-time hours at the town. She said by working these extra hours, she was saving the taxpayers a lot of money. A large enough contingent of taxpayers and council members who felt the supervisor job did not need to be a full-time job, and therefore did not need full-time pay, voiced their opposition. The debate came down to whether the supervisor position was a full-time job or not. The board was divided at the time. It was controversial enough that the raise was eliminated, and Mallach got the same 10% raise everyone else did and remained part-time.

The raise proposed in this year’s budget had a different purpose and would have been temporary for the 2024 budget year only. Still, several people showed up to oppose this, saying it was a “backdoor” way for the supervisor to get a raise.

But last month, several community members said they support Mallach getting a raise, airport or otherwise.