This appointment would mean that the current deputy mayor, Tom Catillaz, would be removed from the role but would remain on the village board. Catillaz has been on the village board for 26 years — seven as mayor of Saranac Lake. Mayor Jimmy Williams appointed him deputy mayor on April 4, 2022, the same night that Williams was sworn in after winning the mayoral race.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Tom Catillaz’s longstanding service to the village of Saranac Lake. He’s a great guy,” Williams said Friday. “There comes a time when it’s appropriate to pass the torch. I made the decision to ask Matt if he would take on deputy mayor.”

The deputy mayor role is an appointed role, not an elected role; the mayor can choose his deputy. The deputy mayor steps in to preside over meetings when the mayor is not present.

“I do plan to accept the appointment on Monday. Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to discuss it with the current deputy mayor, and we’re good,” Scollin said Friday.

The current Saranac Lake village board and manager pose at their first meeting together on April 4, 2022. From left in the front row are Trustee Matt Scollin, Mayor Jimmy Williams and Trustee Kelly Brunette; in the back row are Trustee Rich Shapiro, Trustee Tom Catillaz and Manager Erik Stender. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Scollin said this wasn’t something he anticipated, but it is an appointment that is the mayor’s prerogative.

“I feel if I’m asked, and I can handle the corresponding responsibilities, I should accept,” Scollin said. “Tom is a key source of institutional knowledge for the board. That won’t change. And there is clearly some room for improvement with regard to village board cohesion. I don’t know the extent to which this change will enable me to move the needle on that front, but I intend to do my best and find out.”

It’s not uncommon for a deputy mayor role to be transferred to different members of a village board, but typically this changeover will happen during organizational meetings at the start of the year. This switch in Saranac Lake will come one week after a contentious village board workshop, during which the mayor accused village board members of attempting to meet without him in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Law and village policies, and the village board, in turn, called for an internal investigation into a dispute between the mayor and village Manager Eric Stender.

Last week, Stender submitted his letter of resignation to the village board — his last day is this Wednesday, July 26 — following an interaction with Williams, which the mayor has called a “personal interaction.” Stender has declined to comment on the incident. Saranac Lake Police Chief Darin Perrotte said there was no request for a police presence at the town hall, but that after hearing about the incident, he initiated an investigation and determined that “there were no allegations of violations of law.”

“I suspect (the deputy mayor change) is because I want to follow up on a police report alleging that (Williams) physically harassed our village manager,” Catillaz wrote in a letter to the editor to the Enterprise Friday. Catillaz did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

“‘Physically’ is the key phase here,” Catillaz wrote. “Physicality is not allowed in a workplace, ‘our’ workplace, and, if true, warrants the severest and swiftest response, as we are sworn to protect our employees from a hostile work environment. That is one of my sworn duties, a duty I will uphold until my last breath.”

Asked if his decision to appoint a deputy mayor was in response to Monday’s board meeting and the board’s request for an investigation, Williams reiterated that he just felt it was the right time.

“It’s a position that Matt can fill and I think he’s been a contributing member of the board and the village,” Williams said.

The village has not yet released the police incident report to the Enterprise; a Freedom of Information Law request for the report was rejected on Thursday because “most investigative reports fall under an attorney-client privilege records and are considered exempt (Civil Practice Law 4503).” The Enterprise can appeal this decision.

Village trustees, however, have seen the police report.

“I believe an investigation should be completed by an independent entity,” Trustee Kelly Brunette said on Wednesday after reading the report. “I believe we have a responsibility to conduct an independent internal investigation, due to the nature of the allegations,” Scollin said. “However, it is important to remember that we are talking about people’s lives and professional reputations here. There should be no rush to judgment in any direction. Any investigation must be fair, full and timely, in line with our commitment to providing a safe and respectful work environment for all village employees.”

“We only want and deserve the truth,” Catillaz wrote. “Let us read it as written by the police chief and other, further, investigation. Violence against employees and a hostile workplace is not who we are.”