Fred Balzac (Provided photo)

SARANAC LAKE — Five candidates are in the running for two seats on the Saranac Lake Village Board of Trustees.

Four of those candidates are on the ballot. Independents Sean Ryan and Katie Stiles are running on the Republican Party line as well as the independent “Sean Ryan for Saranac Lake” and “Integrity for Saranac Lake” party lines, respectively. Paul Van Cott and Aurora White are running a joint ticket on the Democratic and independent “Team Saranac Lake” party lines.

Fred Balzac, a Democrat, did not secure the Democratic line and did not file paperwork to get an independent line on the ballot and is instead running a write-in campaign.

Voters will choose two of these candidates to serve a four-year term. They will serve along with existing members of the village board — Mayor Jimmy Williams, Deputy Mayor Matt Scollin and Trustee Kelly Brunette.

A forum with the candidates on the ballot can be viewed on the Enterprise’s Facebook page in two parts at tinyurl.com/yk38tzk2 and tinyurl.com/4f2cc5jb.

On Election Day, March 19, polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. in the Harrietstown Town Hall auditorium.

Each election cycle, the Enterprise issues candidates a questionnaire, which they can answer in their own words.

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Fred Balzac

Age: 65

Occupation: Grant coordinator

Position sought: Saranac Lake Village Trustee

Q: Why are you running for this position?

A: To ensure honest, open and transparent village government, serving the needs of people too often left out of the equation in decision-making — including workers, renters, young adults, the economically disadvantaged, families with school-age children, seniors on fixed incomes, small-business owners and year-round residents — not the demands of special interests and elites; to fight corruption; to solve our community’s problems with common-sense solutions that prioritize people over profits.

Q: What are your qualifications?

A: Thirty-plus years of monitoring local government, speaking out against corruption and bad policies, and standing up for ordinary people against special interests and elites — from leading a 15-year struggle to solve the bridge issue in Jay to calling out the improprieties of the Rabideau administration here in Saranac Lake. From fall 2019 through the end of that administration in April 2022, I probably attended more village board meetings than anyone besides village officials. I’ve been thinking about local issues since 1992, am knowledgeable about the challenges facing our village and believe I have the skills, experience, ideas, vision and sense of commitment to help solve many of them.

Q: What are your main goals?

A: 1. See Q1 responses.

2. Solve the emergency-services facility (ESF) issue by blocking the APA from moving to our village; keeping the police department in its current location, where it belongs — downtown — and renovating it (I commit to seeking the necessary funds); reducing the size and cost of the proposed ESF, since it would then house only the fire department and rescue squad; and exploring possibilities for keeping these two vital services near their current Broadway locations where they can respond more quickly to neighborhoods more likely to need their services than the Petrova Avenue area.

3. Deal with our affordable-housing crisis. Possible solutions include: Prohibit vacation home development and require developers of high-end housing to set aside a high percentage of units (e.g., 25-33%) for middle- and low-income workers; implement rent-stabilization and protect tenants’ rights; enforce code regulations but help landlords and homeowners fund improvements via a community development fund and micro-loans; tax abatements to keep or build long-term rentals; ban short-term rentals (STRs) by corporations or absentee owners.

4. Other goals include: A community health worker program; improve childcare options; diversify our local economy away from its overreliance on tourism and oversized events (e.g., the failed World University Games) toward local farming/food production, green jobs, opportunities for our young people, and the arts as economic drivers; cancel the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism contract; cancel the Lexipol police-consultant contract; take a hard look at how the police department is operating, including its funding; and reopen the case of the police killing of Joshua Kavota for the good of the soul of Saranac Lake.

Q: What do you think are the three biggest problems in the town, and how do you propose solving them?

A: The three biggest problems facing our village can be summarized in three words: Past, present and future. The past involves 12 years of inaction and, in my view, wrongdoings by the Rabideau administration, whose key players have yet to be held fully accountable, and now one of them — Paul Van Cott, who served under Clyde Rabideau for seven-plus years as trustee before quitting his second term and soon thereafter being named village attorney — would have us return to those days. That administration did nothing to regulate STRs — surprise, the then-mayor owned STRs! Rabideau did next to nothing to address the ESF issue and, at one of his last meetings as mayor, lamented along with previous mayors Tom Catillaz and Bill Madden, about their failure to act. Rabideau did push for the oversized, unattractive Waterfront Lodge — a blight on otherwise beautiful Lake Flower — which serves as a constant reminder of the kind of non-smart development our village doesn’t need. That administration allowed the Development Board, appointed by the mayor, to rule on Rabideau’s construction projects (the board at the time included his brother-in-law and his wife’s nephew, although they recused themselves from votes relating to his properties) and members of the administration said little to nothing when the mayor allegedly doxxed (posted the partial home address of) members of High Peaks Democratic Socialists of America, an LGBT couple, or allegedly verbally assaulted women who lived and/or owned property next-door to Rabideau construction sites, as reported in the Enterprise. If elected trustee, I will pursue accountability, advocate for a strong ethics policy to prevent such misdeeds and, if warranted, file a complaint with the state Attorney General.

In terms of present problems, the next village board must solve the ESF issue in a cost-effective, common-sense and transparent way. It must tackle the dire need for affordable housing head on (for solutions, see my Q2 responses). We must address an issue that’s rarely spoken of: The widening income-inequality gap between village “haves” — in many cases, older transplants who are retirees living on wise investments or working in the region’s best-paying jobs — and “have-nots” — typically, younger people, often renters, many barely subsisting on the low pay generated by service jobs. To help the latter group, I propose such solutions as strict enforcement of code regulations, protection of tenants’ rights and implementation of rent stabilization; a community health worker program and investigating the possibility of a free medical clinic; and diversifying our local economy away from low-paying gigs in tourism to green jobs, supporting local farmers and food production, implementing a community development fund, micro-loans and a buy-local campaign; and bolstering the arts and culture as economic drivers.

As for the future, the village board must come to grips with the coming climate catastrophe and commit to making Saranac Lake as climate-change-resilient as possible. We need to set a firm goal to get the entire village — private homes, apartment buildings and commercial structures as well as public facilities — to go 100% renewable by, say, 2034 and then achieve it. We need to say “No” to ill-advised development like the Waterfront Lodge or a new APA building proposed to go behind 1-3 Main St. and say “Yes” to a moratorium on any further waterfront development and to preservation and expansion of our open space, parks, trees and other green places and things.

Q: Other comments to voters?

A: Because I am a write-in candidate, rather than robotically vote for Democrats or Republicans, voters will have to consciously choose me. In a democracy, people typically get the government they deserve — either by voting for the right or wrong candidates or not voting at all. My message to VSL voters is this: You have the power to determine the future of our community — by choosing the two candidates who would have us return to the elitist, pro-development, pro-special-interests policies of the Rabideau-Van Cott administration; two candidates who, while promising, are untested with respect to the village board and whose views are less well-defined; or me, who is offering very specific solutions to the problems facing us. Remember: I can win if you write me in!