To the editor:

I first met Jeremy nearly six years ago when I joined the Saranac Lake Board of Education amid the COVID crisis. For months, we sat spaced across the high school stage from one another as we all tried to figure out the best way forward for our kids and for the broader school community. Those were difficult times, but we got through them together. The thing that impressed me about Jeremy then — and continues to impress me now — is his ability to listen to all sides of an issue while synthesizing large amounts of sometimes conflicting information into tangible ways forward. These are skills that we so desperately need right now, given the magnitude of structural issues facing Saranac Lake in our current moment.

Over the years, Jeremy and I have become friends, and I continue to learn from him. Few people know the complexity of issues facing this community better than Jeremy, given his experience at various levels of local government and through his work at the County of Franklin Industrial Development Agency. Jeremy is constantly listening, constantly learning and always attempting to bring people together to solve our collective problems. He has a firm grasp of housing and affordability issues, of how economic changes in the area have impacted our quality of life and of the sometimes knotty social and cultural issues facing communities in transition. All these structural forces impact our schools, and while he’s no longer on the school board, I continue to value his input, given the breadth of his knowledge.

Most importantly, I trust that Jeremy will listen — truly listen — to our community. He’s a bridge-builder who brings people together toward common goals, realizing that we rise together when we all share in the success of this wonderful place we call home. I trust that Jeremy will be a competent and kind village board member, and I trust that he will continue to surround himself with quality people like Kelly Brunette and David Trudeau. We are facing some big issues in this community, and I trust that Jeremy Evans will work hard to solve them.

Joseph Henderson

Saranac Lake