SARANAC LAKE — There are two village trustee seats up for election this year, and the village has set the date for the election: March 19.

The seats of trustees Tom Catillaz and Rich Shapiro, both Democrats, are up for election. On Monday, Shapiro said he will be running for reelection to the seat to keep the village leadership in check, and Catillaz said he is still thinking about it.

“I don’t know what I’m doing yet,” Catillaz said on Monday.

Prospective candidates have a little more than a month to join the race — at two major party caucuses or as an independent candidate.

A Democratic caucus is scheduled for Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at the Harrietstown Town Hall auditorium with Harrietstown Democratic Party Chair and town Supervisor Jordanna Mallach presiding over the meeting.

A Republican caucus is scheduled for Jan. 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the Harrietstown Town Hall auditorium with Harrietstown Republican Party Chair Bob Bevilacqua presiding.

Village Clerk Amanda Hopf said the deadline to file as an independent candidate is Feb. 13. Between the two caucuses this month and that February deadline, voters should know who will be on the ballot by Feb. 14.

Bevilacqua and Mallach each said they haven’t heard of any candidate’s plans to run yet, other than Shapiro.

Shapiro said he was not planning to run for a third term.

“We’ve got to keep fairness and consistency in the government, and transparency and honesty,” Shapiro said.

He said he’s not seeing this in village leadership and wants to enforce it from the board.

Shapiro has vocally been in opposition to Mayor Jimmy Williams on a variety of issues — from how the mayor runs the government, to specific policies or appointments he’s made — since Williams was elected in 2022. The two are so at odds, it is a sort of in-joke among trustees and board meeting regulars, who sometimes reference their animosity with humor.

But Shapiro sees his role of speaking up and questioning things as a serious need for the village.

“If I don’t speak up, nobody does,” he said. “If I speak up, I get some backing. … And we need that. Otherwise it’s an authoritarian dictatorship.”

At the two caucuses this month, only party members can vote.

In New York, anyone who participates in a caucus for a village office cannot also sign an independent nominating petition.

Voters signing petitions for independent candidates may only sign a petition for one candidate. If they sign a second petition for another candidate it will be invalidated.