BY JIMMY LAWTON

North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG -  Ron Lesperance is one of eight candidates seeking three seats on city council, but he says he’s running on his own Fight 2 Unite line, because the city council needs to come together.

“I was born and raised in Ogdensburg and this is my first venture in politics,” he said.

Lesperance says he’s been watching things unfold in the city in recent years and he believes the city has been complacent.

“It seems past administrations have had more excuses than answers. They’ve missed out on big opportunities. I think Ogdensburg could have had the huge Bassmasters contract instead of Waddington,” he said.

Lesperance says he personally knows all members of city council. He says he knows one person can’t change things overnight, but he believes he could definitely help things improve.

As for cuts to police and fire? Lesperance says he thinks the city went too far.

“I don’t believe that cutting the things the city needs, like police and fire, was the wisest thing to do. There are other ways to get the budget down. We have a drug epidemic here. We have people overdosing.”

Lesperance said he knows the city had a lot of firefighters and acknowledged they got paid a large amount of money, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t necessary.

“I think what the prior administration did with finalizing the contract right before the new council came in wasn’t right. I think they knew what they were doing,” he said. “I also don’t want my house to burn down. We can’t just get rid of everyone.”

Lesperance says better negotiating probably could have kept more people in their positions at more reasonable rates.

Lesperance is both critical and supportive of actions taken by the council. He supports efforts to develop the city and cut taxes, but he doesn’t like how some members of council treat people.

“There are people on the council who are unprofessional. They refuse to answer questions. They scream at each other and citizens. They are dismissive of legitimate concerns. That’s gotta change,” he said.

Lesperance wants to do that.

“I’m not a puppet. I’m not someone who’s going to have their strings pulled,” he said.

Lesperance wants to see nonprofits that receive police and fire service to help pay for it. He wants to see efforts to keep property taxes low continue, but not at the cost of additional services and he thinks development is key to that success.

He said it’s frustrating to see citizens suing the city council. He says that while the city may be divided on many issues, it’s time to get past that.

“I want to make Ogdensburg great again. Because it could be,” he said.