Johnsburg supervisor announces resignation from town, not APA

By Gwendolyn Craig

Andrea Hogan announced she will resign from her post mid-term as town supervisor of Johnsburg effective Feb. 17, a few months after news broke she was taking a job at a land trust in Maine.

Hogan wrote in a Facebook post on her town supervisor page that she would be resigning from the town more than 10 months before the term ends. “It has been an honor and privilege to have served the people and the town for the past 5 years as supervisor and 10 years prior to that, with the ACOC (Adirondack Community Outreach Center),” she wrote. The town board meeting was held on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Hogan also sits on the Adirondack Park Agency board, and did not respond to the Adirondack Explorer’s phone calls and Facebook message asking whether she would finish out her term expiring in June. The Adirondack Park Agency is a state organization that develops long-range plans for public and private uses in the approximately 6-million-acre park. Board members act on policy issues and permit applications, according to the APA’s website.

Keith McKeever, APA spokesman, said on Thursday that Hogan was still on the 11-member board. He did not immediately respond to the Explorer’s follow-up questions asking if Hogan had contacted the APA and if she would finish her term. Hogan is one of five in-park commissioners and represents Warren County. In November, McKeever said out-of-state employment did not preclude a commissioner from being an in-park board member, but they must reside full-time in the park. There are also three out-of-park commissioners and an additional three board members who represent the state Department of State, Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Economic Development. 

Johnsburg Town Clerk Jean Comstock said she had not received Hogan’s letter of resignation from the $30,000-per-year supervisor’s job as of Thursday morning and did not know Hogan’s plans for the APA. Hogan attended Tuesday night’s board meeting via Zoom, Comstock said.

Hogan spoke with the Explorer in November about her new position as the executive director of the Vinalhaven Land Trust on an island town in Knox County, Maine. Hogan’s husband is currently working on the island. The pair have a second home there.

At the time, Hogan told the Explorer she planned to fulfill her supervisor and APA commissioner terms before working in Maine full-time. Prior to becoming supervisor in 2018, Hogan was the director of the ACOC in North Creek, a community organization providing food and clothing. 

“My primary residence is still very much Johnsburg,” she had said. “What I said at the land trust, I am excited about the opportunity to live and work in Maine full-time, and that is exactly what I will do, when my obligation to the Town of Johnsburg is over.”

That time is coming sooner, however. Comstock said there will be a regularly scheduled town supervisor election this November, but the board will appoint a new supervisor. Comstock said the town is accepting letters of interest and resumes until Feb. 2 for those interested in finishing Hogan’s term. The supervisor term is two years.

The APA board is in need of appointments from Gov. Kathy Hochul already. Hogan’s term expires in June, as will Commissioner Dan Wilt’s. Commissioners Mark Hall, an in-park member, and Ken Lynch, an out-of-park member, are currently serving on expired terms.