With all due respect to Mayor Jimmy Williams and members of the Saranac Lake Village Board of Trustees …

Building a unified volunteer rescue, fire and police department complex at 33 Petrova Ave. at an estimated cost at $27.5 million may have brought this board near the top of the bad decision pole.

That is saying a mouthful since the first village board met 133 years ago under President (nee Mayor) Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau and I have no idea what they screwed up.

Knowing the way the village grew and prospered over those years is testimony to the many good decisions that were made. I love Saranac Lake, I love the village as it is today, and I loved the village in the 1940s, moving in from the farm and the chance to grow up here, especially with The Enterprise as my mentor … newsboy to editor.

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Bad decisions by village boards?

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Maybe tearing down the village-owned 7-story Hotel Alpine that could have been used for affordable housing was a bad decision.

Maybe moving the police station from the town hall to 2 Main St. was a bad decision. The Board thought the Town Hall station was too small and paid huge money to tear out and move the jail cells. Check the square footage sometime. Now the police (because of repairs at 2 Main St.) have moved to the New York State Armory on state Route 3. Maybe they can stay there.

Maybe tearing down 15 businesses on River Street so the tourists could see the lake was a bad decision, but it didn’t cost the village a dime.

That project took more than 10 years. It began with Mayor John Campion in 1963 and continued with Mayor Howard Riley, Mayor Charles Keough and Mayor John Brewster. The project was completed about 1975.

The village is half the size it used to be. The population then was approximately 10,000 — in 2023, it was 4,871.

The village used to have five hotels downtown — now we have one.

My board tore down an old three-story antique store and apartment building in the mid-1960s, next to the firehouse and added two new bays. The village owns property behind the fire station to build an addition for fire and rescue.

My God, people. If you can get your hands on $27 million … rebuild the infrastructure, upgrade the streets, beautify the parks and fix up the ghost houses.

By the way, if anyone wants to question my unwavering support for the rescue squads, fire department or the police department, then bring it on.

This project with the huge price tag should be voted on by the taxpayers. Unfortunately, the village election is March 15 and it is too late to make the rule’s deadlines to get on the ballot.

Also, I urge all to read Dan Reilly’s guest commentary on the estimated $27.5 million building plan Part I in the Enterprise’s Feb. 27 edition and Part II in the Feb. 28 edition … but I wish Dan knew how to spell Riley.

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Howard Riley is a former Harrietstown town councilman, former Saranac Lake village trustee, former Saranac Lake mayor and the Enterprise’s local history columnist. He lives in Harrietstown.