By EJ Conzola II
NYVT Media
WHITEHALL – Mayor Julie Eagan has resigned after moving out of the village.
Former Mayor Francis “Fra” Putorti was chosen by the Village Board to serve the remaining seven months of Eagan’s unexpired term.
Eagan, who has been splitting her time between a property she and her husband own in the Town of Dresden and her daughter’s home in Whitehall, said she resigned after Village Attorney Matt Fuller told her that her living situation could create potential legal problems both for her as an individual and the village as a government entity.
Eagan had earlier indicated she was not planning to seek re-election in March but said Fuller’s advisory prompted her to step aside immediately.
She said she had sought Fuller’s guidance because trying to maintain a village residence – required for her to serve as mayor – and her home outside the village was becoming ever more stressful.
Eagan said she “regretfully resign(ed)” in a brief letter submitted at the regular monthly meeting of the Village Board’s Public Works Committee on Aug. 28. The committee is made up of the entire board.
Eagan, a Whitehall native, was elected mayor without opposition in 2021.
The board members expressed sorrow at Eagan’s decision and praised her time leading the village.
“You did a really good job,” said board member Mike LaChapelle, noting the village has faced several difficult decisions during Eagan’s tenure.
Among the issues Eagan has had to deal with are the dissolution of the village police department, several major infrastructure projects totaling millions of dollars and ongoing negotiations with the developers of the Champlain Hudson Power Express project, which recently began the work that will bring the electric line that runs from Quebec to New York City through the heart of the village.
Those issues will now fall to Putorti, who served one term as mayor beginning in 2009.
Putorti said he has no plans at this time to run for the position in the March village election, saying he thought it was “time for some new blood.”
Putorti said Eagan had approached him about filling the mayor’s seat when she stepped down, and the two polled the current board members in case any of them wanted to take on the position before he agreed to step in.
The decision, Putorti said, was driven in part by a desire to help out Eagan, whom he had first convinced to enter elected politics more than a decade ago when he solicited her to run for the village justice position. Eagan served on the bench for nine years.
