To the editor:

As a Saranac Lake taxpayer, I never thought that I would have to rely on the Harrietstown Town Board to get information regarding the most expensive capital project in our village’s history, the proposed public safety building. For more than two years, village residents have requested information and periodic updates from the village board. Frequent pleas during village board meetings, letters to the editor and Freedom of Information requests typically are ignored or given minimal responses, but the steamroller-like movement of the project goes on unabated.

In case you didn’t know, in May 2022, the village board appointed an “Emergency Services Facility” committee. However, unlike many other volunteer committees, this one was organized so that they were not required to let the taxpayers know when they were meeting or what they decided, and they were also exempt from Freedom of Information requests. I greatly appreciate the time and effort of this important committee. I just wish that the village wouldn’t keep its critical work a secret.

Fortunately, the “law of unintended consequences” poked a big hole in this veil of secrecy when the village board recently appointed five new committee members. Three were town supervisors, and one of them is Jordanna Mallach, who on Oct. 16 dutifully reported what she heard at her first committee meeting. I don’t have the space to summarize what Supervisor Mallach reported, but you can hear it for yourself at harrietstown.org/agendas-minutes (10/16/25 recording, 8 minutes in).

Nearly everything that Mallach reported was new to me and apparently to everyone else in the room. This prompted Town Councilman Jeremy Evans to applaud Mallach for providing updated project information and stating that in six minutes, they received more information than they had from the village in three years. He jokingly commented that if word gets out about this newfound source of information, the town board would have to meet twice a month in the auditorium to handle the crowds. Thanks to Supervisor Mallach, I know that I will be paying more attention to town meetings.

Keith Murphy

Saranac Lake