Saranac Lake school board candidate Milt Adams

1 of 4 inverviews with Saranac Lake Central School Board candidates

By EMILY HUNKLER, Enterprise Staff Writer
SARANAC LAKE — Milt Adams hopes to be elected to the Saranac Lake school board so he can help make budget cuts by turning the district more green.

“I think that to be able to streamline the budget you have to think outside the box,” said Adams, 43, Lake Clear.

Adams works as an environmental educator at the Adirondack Park Agency Visitor Interpretive Center at Paul Smiths; he is also a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club and a leader of Cub Scout Pack 3. He is married with two sons.

“I want to turn the schools a little more green, more energy efficient,” Adams said. “I want to encourage kids to recycle and reuse more, maybe even start a compost program.”

Adams hopes to have the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority come in and perform energy audits on all the schools in the district.

“There are grants available to the schools to explore these kinds of options,” Adams said. “Fuel oil prices are too high, and in this case the cost is going right out the windows at Petrova.”

Adams was referring to the state of disrepair the windows at the Petrova school is in. There is a referendum on the ballot Tuesday asking to pay for new windows there.

“I have some teachers tell me that snow piles on their window sill in the winter,” he said. “Ideally Proposition 3 will pass, and that will be a big step in improving the efficiency in the Petrova school.”

Another goal of Adams is to empower the high school environmental club to change the lunch trays to anything but the current styrofoam trays, preferably plastic reusable ones.

“That right there would cut down severely on waste and trips to the landfill, in turn cutting gas costs and tipping fees,” Adams said. “If we could just start making trips to the landfill every other day, it would cut our costs by 50 percent.”

As for teachers, administration and staff contributing to health care, Adams thinks every little bit helps.

“Eighty percent of the budget is administrative, so if they could contribute a portion to help trim that percentage, it would definitely make a difference,” Adams said.

Adams, whose 6-year-old son attends Lake Clear Elementary, said he would go to the board with an open mind on the matter of keeping open or shutting down that school.

“I think the committee that has been set up is a good committee, and as long as the process remains transparent I will stand by the recommendation of the committee,” Adams said.

“The first priority is education. If that’s not your first priority, then you shouldn’t be running for school board,” Adams said.

Contact Emily Hunkler at 891-2600 ext. 24 or ehunkler@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.