ACT candidates swept the Saranac Lake village election on Wednesday. Kelly Brunette, center, won mayor, becoming the first female mayor ever in Saranac Lake. David Trudeau, left, and Jeremy Evans, right won seats on the village board. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE – The ACT platform handily swept the Saranac Lake village election on Wednesday – with Kelly Brunette winning the mayoral seat and Jeremy Evans and David Trudeau winning seats on the board.

Brunette, a village trustee, won the seat over incumbent Mayor Jimmy Williams 775 to 476. She made history, becoming the very first female Saranac Lake mayor.

Evans took the most votes in the trustee race with 842. Trudeau was close behind in 823. Katie Stiles fell short of winning a seat on the board with 416 votes. Josh King, who was not on the ballot, but ran as a write-in candidate had 292 people write his name in.

Brunette, Evans and Trudeau all ran on the Democratic line as well as the independent “Affordability Civility and Transparency (ACT)” party line.

Williams and Stiles both ran on the Republican line. Williams’ last day in office will be April 6.

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‘Pure excitement’

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More than 1,250 voters turned out to the polls Wednesday in what was the most well-attended election in many years for the village.

On election night, Brunette said becoming the village’s first female mayor “means everything” to her. She thanked everyone who ran.

Brunette was at home with her family when she got the call with the results.

She said she was “humbled” and filled with “pure excitement.”

All three winning candidates said they are excited.

“We’re all on the same page,” Trudeau said.

“I’m ready to get to work. The first meeting can’t come soon enough,” Evans said.

Brunette first won election to the board in 2021 for a one-year term. The next year, she was reelected to a full term.

She said, with five years on the board and years as a village employee previously, she’s ready to lead the village. She’s glad to do so with a “solid board” with members having varied skill sets.

Brunette mentioned the capital improvement plan, which was completed several months ago after several years of work. She had worked with a task force to create the plan – a comprehensive list of the large-scale infrastructure projects in the village. She said she’ll use it as a guide for putting these projects into action.

One of the village’s largest projects, and an issue that was at the core of much of this election, was the work to get a new home for Saranac Lake’s emergency service employees and volunteers.

The board’s been discussing this project for three years now. Over that time, the conflict over whether or not it should be pursued has grown into full-blown verbal fights, built-up animosity and lots of distrust among all parties.

The Williams administration has been working on siting the volunteer fire and rescue departments, as well as the village police, at the former St. Pius X high school building at 33 Petrova Ave. This effort has been controversial, as some trustees and residents have concerns about the price, size and scope of the project. They think it’s too big. And some would rather use that plot of land for housing or some other venture.

Brunette has proposed a “reset” to reconsider alternate options for the project.

At the last village board meeting, members of the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department attended to speak about how their volunteer forces have been caught in the crossfire of this debate, and that it was severely hurting morale. Some members pointed to statements Brunette was involved in. The firefighters said they were feeling good about the plans for the emergency services complex, but that “slander,” “negativity” and a “constant stream of inaccurate information” were making them fear their best shot at a new headquarters would be missed.

On election night, Brunette said she is committed to getting the fire department the facilities they need, “110%.”

She said she wants to hear the departments’ concerns.

“I will make sure they get the facilities that they need,” Brunette said, “at the same time, it being something the residents and taxpayers can afford. We can strike that balance.”

Trudeau said they’re not against the department getting better facilities, they have just disagreed with the process done thus far.

He said Williams worked hard for the village and they will “take it to the next level.”

Trudeau wants to focus on creating better communication between the village and the public.

He’s pitching a way for the community to voice concerns and issues in the days before village meetings, for the board to address them in the meetings. He also wants to work on getting meeting agendas out online sooner, so people can discuss village matters for several days before the board starts voting.

Trudeau felt that the result was the product of the national situation between Republicans and Democrats, maybe even more so than the local issues.

The race had been especially tense for local politics. Advocates for both sides of the ballot accused the other of misinformation, corruption, underhandedness and a variety of other misdeeds and slights.

Brunette said things got ugly. Personally, she had people make “shallow” comments about her appearance and her intelligence. She said there needs to be a time for healing and for the village to move past the tension.

“It’s a relief for it to be over with,” Evans said of the campaign.

He wants to put as much energy as he can into housing and affordability. He pledged to keep taxes in check.

Evans also said he wants to open up community conversation to make sure everyone is heard. There will be disagreements, he said, but he wants everyone to have a seat at the table.

Trudeau has previously served on or chaired the village zoning board of appeals, planning board and development board. He said he can do a lot more on the village board than these boards. The work is more proactive.

On the development, planning or zoning boards, people brought him projects to address. On the village board, he said he’ll seek out problems and solutions.

Williams, Stiles and King were not immediately available for interviews on Election Night.

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Evans to resign from town council

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Evans was elected to the Harrietstown council in 2023. He now plans to step down from his seat, which will create a vacancy. There is no set deadline for him to resign from the town council.

He said he hadn’t thought much about it before the election. Now that he won a seat in the village, he’ll start discussing his departure with his current board.

Harrietstown Supervisor Jordanna Mallach said the board will likely make an appointment after Evans officially resigns from the town. She said they’ll need to figure out the method of making that appointment.

The council is not required to make an appointment, as long as it can conduct business as normal.

When former Councilwoman Ashley Milne left the council in October, the town solicited letters of interest for the appointment. David Lynch was the only one who expressed interest. He was appointed in January.

Mallach said if the council makes an appointment to fill out the five-person board, that person would need to run again in November to keep the seat, and would then be up for election again in November 2027.

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This is a breaking news story. More information will be added as it becomes available.