Craig Donaldson, Sabrina Harrison, Daniel Martin, Johnny Williams, Allan Wright. (Enterprise photos — Aaron Marbone; provided Harrison photo)

SARANAC LAKE — Harrietstown Republicans selected candidates to run for a variety of town positions at a caucus on Wednesday night, setting up a potential contested race of more than two candidates running for two open town council seats in the Nov. 4 general election.

The GOP chose former town Highway Superintendent Craig Donaldson and incumbent councilman Johnny Williams to run for two councilmember seats. Incumbent town Clerk Sabrina Harrison, incumbent Justice Allan Wright and incumbent Highway Superintendent Daniel Martin were all selected to run for reelection on the Republican line, too.

No voting was needed at the caucus because there were not any more nominations than there were open seats.

The GOP did not select a candidate to run for the town supervisor position. Incumbent Supervisor Jordanna Mallach had sent a letter of intent to be considered for the Republican line but rescinded it on Tuesday night.

Mallach said she did not believe she had the support within the Republican party. She will seek the Democratic nomination when the Democrats caucus on July 8 at 6 p.m. in the town hall auditorium.

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Williams

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Caucus Secretary Ray Scollin said, after watching Williams on the board, he’s a guy who asks questions and wants to know more. While Williams is not a party member, Scollin said he shares a Republican value of improving the town while being a steward of the taxpayers’ coffers.

Williams is running for his second term on the board. In the past four years, he said he’s been proud of the board as a whole, working together. They don’t all agree on everything, but provide balanced perspectives, he said.

He wants to continue working on this board since there are some big projects coming up, particularly at the town-owned Adirondack Regional Airport, which is undergoing construction and environmental remediation projects. Williams is an intermediary between the airport and board. He volunteered to be the alternate airport security coordinator in 2023 after a debate over the supervisor filling that position.

He said Mallach is doing a “tremendous job” leading the town.

Williams said he believes in the phrase “Bring solutions, don’t bring problems.” He said it’s easy to make waves or disparage ideas, but he’s focused on working together to create opportunities in town.

He said municipalities have bills just like businesses. And they’ve got a lot of people asking a lot of them. He said the board needs to make tough decisions on where to allocate resources to keep the town sustainable.

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Donaldson

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Scollin said Donaldson served the town for many years, is well-known in the town government and has earned the respect of voters and taxpayers.

“He’s a guy who you could see on the working end of a shovel as much as you could see the pen when he was trying to do a budget,” Scollin said.

Donaldson was the town highway superintendent for 35 years and worked for the town for 38 years.

He said he knows how the town runs, and feels taxation has gotten out of hand, especially for people on fixed incomes.

He feels the town has lost sight of who they work for and who pays the bills.

Donaldson said he would like to include a survey with the town’s annual tax bill mailing. This survey would include a list of town services and respondents could list them in order of their priorities. He said this would give the board an idea of what people here want.

Donaldson resigned unexpectedly from his position in 2019. He said he left under “crappy” circumstances –politics, arguments, stress. His daughter had urged him to retire for his health.

But after so many years, it was hard to give up. For two years after he resigned, he still woke up at 2 a.m. to check if there was snow on the roads.

Recently, his daughter said he should run for a public office because she sees him as someone who could represent the town well.

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Highway superintendent

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Martin said he enjoys the work of leading the road crews for the town and wants to keep going. He’s been superintendent for six years and has 25 years with the town highway department.

Martin also plans to seek the Democratic line.

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Justice

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Wright feels a strong sense of responsibility to hold his position and feels he’s doing it right. It’s a difficult job, he said. The laws are black and white but each case is unique. It’s his job to see both the person and the law.

He said evictions are the hardest cases. No one wins. The landlord is out several months’ rent and the people who were living there are out of a home. Weddings are the best part of the job, he said.

Wright also said he wants to see changes to bail reform, because it is hard to work with as a judge, but that there’s nothing he can do about it. That’s up to the state. He said it is hard letting people who he knows will not return to court walk away.

Wright said he may also seek the Democratic line.

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Clerk

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Harrison said she wants to run for a second term because she really does love the job and loves working with the public.

She feels Deputy Town Clerk Judi McIntosh and herself have done a good job of making town services more accessible and user-friendly — they started accepting credit card payments, set up a way for people to pay their taxes online and livestream board meetings on Zoom and upload the recordings to the website.

“We are really the hub for where all the questions come,” Harrison said. “We’re the faces of the town, Judi and I.”

Harrison said that when she doesn’t know the best way to help someone or complete a task, she spends time researching how to optimize her actions.

She said the upcoming property assessment revaluation will likely bring in a lot of people to the office, so she’s ready to hear from the public.

Harrison plans to seek the Democratic nomination at its caucus, too.

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A call to organize

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At the end of the meeting, Ed Goetz, a Democrat and former Republican, spoke up and told the GOP committee they need to pound the pavement to get more candidates to run for office. He said having people running unopposed is a bad look for the community and felt there needs to be an opposition party.

Scollin agreed. He said they need party members, particularly young people, to step up to lead meetings and run for office.

He and Harrietstown Republican Chair Bob Bevilacqua have organized the party for a long time in Saranac Lake. Eventually, they won’t anymore.

If Republicans want a Republican party, he said, they need organization. He pointed to regional Democratic organizations and said those groups create a strong party.

Scollin said he was “preaching to the choir” by speaking to people who showed up to a town caucus. He said what they need is for more people to get involved in local politics.

It’s about providing ballot access for candidates and providing a choice for voters, he said.