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By KIM SMITH DEDAM
SARANAC LAKE — Five candidates are running for two open seats on the Village Board of Trustees. They will serve four-year terms.
Polls are open from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Harrietstown Town Hall.
Each candidate was asked what they feel is the most pressing issue facing the village and how they plan to address it if elected. Their responses follow their biographies.
SHAWN R. BOYER
Age: 46.
Education: Saranac Lake School District, high-school graduate.
Occupation: Maintenance technician at Trudeau Institute.
Party affiliation: Independent, Smart Party.
Previous government experience: Saranac Lake Zoning Board of Appeals.
Civic organizations: Commissioner of Saranac Lake Pool League.
Family: Single.
"The tax base, period. Fifty-eight percent of Saranac Lake properties pay 100 percent of Saranac Lake taxes. And that is critical condition, as far as I'm concerned," Boyer said. "This issue needs to be addressed in several ways: by creating more homes, getting rid of some of the village's surplus properties and creating more commercial properties. I see opportunities in the village for manufacturing — we really could use that to sustain our area."
THOMAS P. CATILLAZ
Age: 55.
Education: Saranac Lake Central School; North Country Community College, associates degree in Science; attended SUNY-Geneseo but is 6 credits short of a Bachelor of Science degree.
Occupation: Purchasing agent, CED-Twin State Electrical Supply.
Party affiliation: Democrat, Independent Freedom Party.
Previous government experience: Mayor of Saranac Lake, seven years; village trustee, three years.
Civic organizations: Lions Club, president; Adirondack Carousel Board of Directors.
Family: Three children, Mallory, Thomas and Zachary.
"One very important thing is shared services between the village, town and county," Catillaz said. "We have all these things (departments) going on here and need to consolidate them. For example, the town and village road crews — the two are only 300 yards apart. We need to have just one of them. We don't need to have all these duplicates."
DIANA HOWARD
Age: 34.
Education: Saranac Lake High School; Bachelor's of Finance, Siena College.
Occupation: Financial consultant, NBT Bank.
Party affiliation: Republican, Independent (Integrity Party).
Civic organizations: Tri-Lakes Humane Society, board member.
Family: Single.
"Taxes are definitely the most pressing issue. Real-estate taxes are becoming unaffordable for those who live here and for those who would like to move here," Howard said. "There are not enough jobs and career options to support such a high real-estate tax. First and foremost, we must revisit our current budget and build it from the bottom up, making it very efficient in attempt to stabilize, if not reduce, current taxes. We would address the issue of high taxes by creating economic development through repealing the retail size cap and allowing more businesses the opportunity to come to Saranac Lake."
ELIAS "ALLIE" PELLETIERI
Age: 53.
Education: Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, 3.5 years.
Occupation: Mason, small-business owner.
Party affiliation: Conservative.
Civic Organizations: Saranac Lake Elks Lodge B.P.O.E. #1508; Knights of Columbus Saranac Lake Council, member; Saranac Lake Fish & Game Club, member; Fifth Quarter Club, Saranac Lake football support organization; Saranac Lake Ski Club, member; Friends of Mount Pisgah, vice president of operations; Candy Bar Ski Races, coordinator; PAL Football, coach; Boy Scouts Troop 1, scout master; Boy Scouts Committee, chairman; donated work for many local construction projects, including the lacrosse wall, Angel of Hope, the Riverside Park sidewalks and the Veteran's Memorial.
Family: Wife, Tammy; two children, Maria and Nikolas.
"To me, the taxes are going up at too fast a rate. I've seen my village taxes go up 64 percent in nine years, and the water and sewer bill has gone up 102 percent in nine years," Pelletieri said.
"I would address the rise in taxes by expanding opportunities to bring in small business and bigger business. I don't agree with the retail cap. There are too many restrictions on businesses and too many tax-exempt properties in the village — 44 percent of the village is tax exempt now.
We have to address this. We started as a team working toward a goal of financial responsibility. I would work first to at least stabilize the tax rate."
SUSAN A. WATERS
Age: 55.
Education: Bachelor's degree in photojournalism, University of Missouri-Columbia.
Occupation: Volunteer and public servant.
Party affiliation: Democrat and Independent (Freedom).
Previous government experience: Deputy mayor of Saranac Lake; Village trustee, four years; Comprehensive Planning Committee, chairwoman; Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Committee, member; Vision Concepts Committee, member; Healthy Infrastructure Advisory Board, sponsor; Village Manager Citizen Search Committee, chairwoman; Community Development Director Citizen Search Committee, chairwoman; Tri-Lakes Affordable Housing Study, member; advocate for energy efficiency and green building policies.
Civic organizations: Adirondack Habitat for Humanity, 12 years, served as development director, president and executive director; ran vacation Bible school and taught Sunday school at First United Methodist Church; Petrova School Wellness Committee; and Veteran's Affairs.
Family: Husband, Brian Mann; one son, Nicholas.
"Jobs, jobs and good jobs. We need well-paying jobs with benefits in the community, including the outlying areas," Waters said. "Our biggest employers lie just outside our boundary — Trudeau, Adirondack Medical Center and St. Joe's (Rehabilitation Center) have all experienced job growth in the last year, and they're all set for more job growth. So we need to take care of those institutions. To attract new business I'm going to cut taxes like we did this year, set proven policies for growth and planning and improve both infrastructure and housing. I have experience in both private-sector management and government to get those things done. Saranac Lake has what attracts growth already: excellent schools, quality of life and a cost of living competitive with metropolitan areas; so we need to market that."
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com
