The new politics do not help our village. I refer to divisive, inflammatory rhetoric lacking in any thoughtful discussion and without concern for our future.

A great example of this is the reason for, and the response to, Howard Riley’s July 2 letter (“Mayor deserves support from Saranac Lakers”) in this newspaper. Howard very reasonably challenged Rich Shapiro’s dramatic demand that Mayor Williams resign due to Shapiro’s erroneous understanding of the state election law residency requirement (“Shapiro calls for mayor to resign,” June 14). In his letter, Howard politely called for support for the mayor. Paul Van Cott then immediately chimed in with his ongoing obsessive and mistaken rant. Howard is, in fact, the voice of reason here.

Shapiro and Van Cott are election deniers. They’ve been at this for two years now and it’s getting old. They repeatedly state that our mayor, Jimmy Williams, is not a legal resident of the village and therefore cannot be mayor. This is absolutely incorrect, at best. New York state election law Article 1, General Provisions, Section 1-104, 22, states: “residence is that place where a person maintains a fixed, permanent and principal home,” and the New York Department of State, in their online course, “Local Government Public Officers,” teaches: “To determine a person’s residence, both expressed intent and conduct must be evaluated. To be a resident of a place, a person must be physically present with the intent to remain for a period of time.”

Van Cott’s a lawyer. Do we suppose he has not read this, or, does he assume everyone else has not? Mayor Williams meets these criteria. He grew up here, he lives here, he works here.

In his letter of July 5, Van Cott writes about how residency strictly within village limits allows a municipal official the ability to “know [a] neighborhood.” What?! I’m going to have to get Howard Riley to explain to me the cultural differences between French Hill and Riverside Drive. I don’t know who else I could possibly ask.

In the meantime, Shapiro and Van Cott continue to voice the residency untruth. Both have proved willing to raise a ruckus at meetings, so far as to be asked to leave, and both then whine about their victimhood while crying for investigation. Does any of this sound familiar? It’s the politics of yelling and intimidation, of lie and deny.

This behavior exhibits no positive regard for the village but rather, substitutes retribution and personal animosity for intelligent dialogue regarding our future. There has not been a shred of discussion about policy. Is this how we want to plan and manage?

As Howard described in his correspondence, numerous public officers over many years did not live within Saranac Lake village boundaries, including positions of mayor, police chief, department head and others. This remains true today. If the narrow and incorrect interpretation of residency put forth by Shapiro and Van Cott were to be adopted, Saranac Lake would lose valued personnel.

As above, the DOS states that both expressed intent and conduct must be evaluated, and a person must be physically present with the intent to remain for a period of time. That is surely the case with our mayor and all the other elected and appointed employees. To which you can add, Mayor Williams cares about the future of our village, as do the hundreds of others who live in places like Beechwood or McKenzie Estates or Lake Street, Trudeau Road, Rockledge, Breezy Acres or Indian Rock Trail, and there are more “outside the village.” They all believe they’re from Saranac Lake. Why? Because they live here, work here and their children attend school here. The federal government agrees: They all live in 12983, Saranac Lake.

It’s disheartening to read the repeated attacks that even lack basis in the law they pretend to champion. Enough already. Let’s talk about something that means something, like water quality or vacation rentals or infrastructure or fiber optic. Anything else!

And finally, Mayor Williams was elected by the people. It’s a tough enough job without all the pointless nay-saying. Let him govern as best he may and good luck to him.

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Dan Reilly lives in Saranac Lake.