TUPPER LAKE — Four candidates are squaring off for two open trustee seats on the Tupper Lake Village Board, which is composed of the village mayor and four trustees. All five positions have two-year terms.

The mayor and two other trustee positions are elected in odd years. Voters this year can make up to two selections for candidates in this race as they fill out their ballot.

Three candidates — Barbara Denis, Susan Fitzpatrick and Richard Pickering — are running for the board for the first time, while Eric Shaheen is running for reelection for a second term after first being elected trustee in 2022. Current Trustee Jason McClain did not seek reelection, citing, in July, a need to balance more time between his job and family.

Denis and Fitzpatrick are running on the Democratic party line and Pickering, and Shaheen are running on the Republican party line. Denis and Fitzpatrick were nominated in an uncontested Democratic party caucus on July 27.

Shaheen and Pickering secured the two Republican nominations at the party’s caucus on July 13. Shaheen received 26 votes, and Pickering received 22 votes. Denis, before being nominated by Democrats, ran at the Republican caucus, finishing in third place with 13 votes.

“The Democrats reached out, put (their) arms around me and asked me to run with Sue Fitzpatrick, and here I am,” Denis said.

Fitzpatrick added that they see eye-to-eye on the solutions to many of the village’s issues.

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Barbara Denis

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Barbara Denis is an account executive for Jack Henry & Associates, a company that provides software and digital services to financial institutions throughout the United States and the Caribbean.

Denis has lived in Tupper Lake since 1996.

“I work with relationships every single day,” she said.

Denis said that although her job often requires traveling around the country, she has been able to do a lot of work remotely, allowing her to spend much of her time in Tupper Lake.

“When I travel, I see a lot and I hear a lot,” she said. “There’s no reason why Tupper Lake can’t have the things that other small communities around the country have, like clean water.”

Denis says she encounters a lot of people who have visited Tupper Lake. She said they often are not aware of all of the attractions “that make it a great place to live.” She said more needs to be done to get the word out and promote the village — something she says she could accomplish as a trustee.

She said the rise of remote work provides a “huge” opportunity to attract people who no longer need to live close to where they work.

“A lot of people have been through here. We want people to stay,” she said.

Denis said water quality was the biggest issue facing Tupper Lake, adding that it has been a longtime problem.

“That’s a basic human right,” she said. “You look at some of these pictures and think, ‘Wow, that’s allowed to happen?'”

She said the village board needs to do more to advocate for a solution.

“We, as a collective board, need to go sit in front of the governor’s office if we need to,” she said.

She said illicit drug use in Tupper Lake and what she felt was a lack of succession plans for when village employees leave or retire are other major issues. Denis said that failing to prepare for vacancies is financially inefficient and harmful to village services, as necessary experience is not passed on.

Denis described herself as becoming a more “publically-centric” person in Tupper Lake over the last few years. She said she did not feel it was right to raise her concerns while remaining on the sidelines.

“If I want to complain about the problems, then I should step up and I should help,” she said.

Denis pointed to her involvement with the Tupper Lake Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation (formerly the Mercy Living Center). Denis said she and her fiance, Mike Vaillancourt, started a group to advocate for better living conditions at the nursing home last year — after complaints from residents and their families of neglect — as ownership transitioned from the Adirondack Medical Center to private ownership.

“We’re still involved there. We still go and visit,” she said.

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Susan Fitzpatrick

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Susan Fitzpatrick was born and raised in Tupper Lake. She spent most of her professional career with Verizon, living throughout upstate New York. She moved back to Tupper Lake in 2011 after retiring from Verizon.

She began volunteering before becoming an employee with the Lake Placid-based Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism, a nonprofit organization that promotes tourism throughout much of the Adirondacks. She works at ROOST’s Park Street information center.

Fitzpatrick said water quality was the biggest issue facing Tupper Lake.

“It’s horrendous,” she said. “I just can’t understand how in 24 years, nobody can fix the drinking water.”

She said more advocacy needs to be done to get the state to understand the situation’s urgency.

Fitzpatrick also cited Tupper Lake’s population loss as a significant problem. She said her job with ROOST gives her a lot of experience that would help her address this issue as a trustee.

“Working where I do, we have an open-door policy,” she said.

Fitzpatrick said she works with people “all the time” who come in asking about the feasibility of moving to or retiring in Tupper Lake. She said she gives them step-by-step processes depending on their situation.

“Tupper really does cater to younger families. We just don’t do as good of a job getting that across as we could,” she said.

Fitzpatrick said its affordability, outdoor attractions, and a “low-key feeling to it” set it apart from the rest of the area.

“A lot of what people are looking for is right here,” Fitzpatrick said.

She said the village needs to do more to emphasize this.

“I think you get more ideas when you see and talk to people. The village (board) doesn’t do enough of that,” she said.

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Richard Pickering

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Richard Pickering grew up in Tupper Lake and worked as a carpenter for the state. He said the biggest issue facing the village is the water quality. He added that the financial strain on taxpayers is another major concern for him.

Pickering said that being a Tupper Lake native and having a professional career — owning a construction business and working for the state based in the area — informs his perspective.

“I worked here my whole life. I’m a father who raised a family of five here,” he said. “I know what’s going on, and I think I can help out.”

Pickering said he wanted the community to know that he has empathy when it comes to paying the tax bill. He said he knows the anger people have when they feel that their money is being wasted or not providing the services that it should.

“I know the value of a hard dollar, and I represent the majority of our tax base when I say that. I would really work hard to take care of every taxpayer that we can,” he said.

Pickering said that was a significant motivation for his decision to seek office. Pickering said he was not a politician. He said he applies common sense and a sense of optimism to fix problems.

“I don’t know a whole heck of a lot about the political side, but I’m very optimistic when it comes to tackling the big issues,” he said. “I have common sense.”

He said he resolves disputes by hearing people out.

“Sitting down and talking about it,” he said. “Instead of just arguing, you just gotta sit down and work it out. This world is what you create.”

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Eric Shaheen

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Eric Shaheen is a lifelong Tupper Lake resident. He is the owner of E&M Enterprises, a general contracting business that is based in Tupper Lake.

Shaheen said water quality was the biggest issue facing Tupper Lake. He also said the village government is in a “very tough spot” financially at the moment.

“I’ve been a longtime business owner, for 35-plus years. I know what it’s like to run a business. The village needs to be run as a business. Eighty percent or more (of what the village does) is provide services. It needs to be more efficient,” he said.

Shaheen added that two years has not been enough time to solve the problem. He said he found the first year of his term “tough,” but he has been able to work well with the board this year to begin delivering for taxpayers.

He wants the opportunity from voters to continue his efforts.

“We’re working on it, and I want to continue to be able to keep trying to fix it,” he said.

In a July interview, Shaheen said that he would miss McClain and enjoyed working with him. He added that he feels he can work well with Pickering, who he described as “open-minded.”

Shaheen said he was compelled to serve on the board to speak up for the community he has deep roots in.

“I act for the taxpayers of the community,” he said. “I don’t need to do it. I do it because I was born and raised here. My family has businesses here. My kids were raised here. I’ve been self-employed in Tupper Lake for over 35 years. … There’s a lot of people who were born and raised here, worked here and retired here who are struggling. And that concerns me.”