David Lynch (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — Town resident David Lynch has been appointed to a one-year term to the Harrietstown council, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Councilwoman Ashley Milne in October.

Lynch has thought about running for office for several years now and felt that the timing was right. Milne resigned halfway through her four-year term to move out west with her family, but it was too late for the town council to put the vacancy on the Nov. 4 election ballot, so the board chose to appoint someone to fill the seat until the election next year.

The council solicited letters of interest and although they got several inquiries about the process, Lynch was the only one who submitted a letter. The board felt satisfied with his application, so on Dec. 30, they voted unanimously to appoint him.

Lynch finished the paperwork on Monday. His first meeting is coming up on Thursday. This all happened quite suddenly and Lynch said it feels like a “fever dream.”

But he’s already knowledgeable about town politics and the issues the council faces.

When he’s at the gym, instead of listening to Linkin Park or Eminem, he puts on recordings of town board meetings.

“I get the same level of pumped up that I need to be so I can go lift weights,” Lynch said.

He started attending town, village and other government meetings consistently in 2020. He had opinions and wanted to express them. He also wants to be updated on what is happening in local government.

“I think people would be surprised how many decisions that affect their daily lives are getting made every two weeks at these meetings,” Lynch said.

He became interested in politics during Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. Sanders was a proponent of people getting involved in every level of government, and Lynch said he was inspired by this. Lynch said he doesn’t often see millennials like himself in public offices, and said he feels he can bring a unique perspective to local government.

When he got a new job working for the Adirondack Mountain Club nonprofit, he couldn’t attend in-person as often — but always listened to the meetings afterward. Lynch also knows people on the town and village boards and talks with them about more than what goes on at board meetings.

He said he’s gotten past the “imposter syndrome phase” of local government engagement. He’s now entering the legislative side of it with excitement and some anxiety.

The town board has had a bit of turnover in the past few months.

At the November election, Councilwoman Tracey Schrader won reelection to the town board and newcomer Doug Haney was elected to join the board in a four-way election for the two seats. Haney was sworn in last week.

Johnny Williams, whose council term ended on Dec. 31 and whose reelection bid was unsuccessful on Nov. 4, announced in November that he would not seek the seat and would depart from the board. To read more about all this, go to tinyurl.com/3j563hb8.

If Lynch wants to continue serving on the council, he will need to run again in the November 2026 election. The term expires in 2027, so he’d need to run again then as well. Because of a new state law shifting most of the elections in odd-numbered years to even-numbered years, the full term elected in 2027 will only last for three years instead of four.

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Priorities

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One of Lynch’s main focuses is housing. He said local government has taken a great qualitative look at the affordable housing crisis. For him, it’s also deeply personal.

“Over the past few years, I’ve lost count of the number of friends, coworkers, peers and simply people my age who have left this area, primarily due to a lack of affordable housing and career-path jobs,” Lynch wrote in his letter. “We desperately need to reverse this trend.”

He said he bounced around apartments for several years — sometimes with less than $100 to his name. He’s been a homeowner for four years now and wants more people to have the opportunities he’s had.

Lynch said such a big problem cannot be solved by the town alone. But he included several proposals to chip away at the issue, including developing preapproved layouts for accessory dwelling units to streamline their installation or incentivizing deed restrictions. This would involve monetary incentives to home sellers to include conditions in the sale that the buyer cannot turn the property into a short-term vacation rental. Grants for these programs have worked in other communities, he said.

Lynch said Harrietstown must be prepared for the effects of climate change, and suggested the town establish a Climate Smart Communities Task Force. The village of Saranac Lake has a bronze CSC certification. It has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 37% since 2017 and received a total of $426,288 in state funds for green projects.

The town has so much overlap with the village, Lynch felt if the village is doing something as impactful as the CSC task force, the town should, too. The town cannot reverse the effects of climate change, but it can adapt to be more resilient, he said.

Lynch also wants to work with the Adirondack Rail Trail Association to make the recently completed rail trail a “nationally recognized attraction.”

He wants to work on increasing transparency and communication with the Franklin County legislature — specifically regarding how occupancy tax funds are spent and how they can be best invested in the town.

Lynch felt the town should strengthen its relationship with the village overall. He remembers that after the 2021 village election there was a big meeting with both boards which he felt was productive. He wants to do that again after the village elections coming in the spring. Caucuses for these elections will be held later this month.

Lynch also said he wants to seek out lobbying days in Albany they can attend to bring Harrietstown issues to the state’s attention.

The town budget is a little less than a year away. Lynch feels the town does a good job of keeping taxes low while providing adequate services.

The meeting on Thursday will also include a public information session on the town’s 100% reassessment and the impact that could have on people’s taxes. This session starts at 4:45 p.m. in the basement boardroom of the Harrietstown Town Hall.