Andy Hogeland ’76 stepped down from his position on the Williamstown Select Board after nearly two decades in the role. He announced his decision on Facebook on Aug. 8, writing that he is planning to move to Connecticut to be closer to his family.
When he graduated from the College in 1976, Hogeland said, he had no intention of returning to Williamstown. However, when a job as legal counsel with General Electric opened in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1994, he moved back and soon became involved with the Williamstown government.
In an interview with the Record, Hogeland discussed his motivation for serving as a member of the Select Board. “I developed a strong belief in the value of being engaged in your community,” he said. “It’s a way to understand the impact of what’s going on and be able to try to do something about it. It’s stepping up to be part of your town.”
In almost two decades on the Select Board, Hogeland worked alongside Town residents of all backgrounds. “It really gave me an education about learning how to listen to people,” he said.
Hogeland served on the board during multiple contentious moments for the Town. In 2022, an investigation found that the Williamstown Police Department (WPD) chief and a WPD sergeant had engaged in sexual and racial workplace harassment, which led to the police chief’s resignation. More recently, the Select Board voted against a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza that garnered more than 400 signatures from community members.
Hogeland told the Record that, after news broke about the WPD workplace harassment, he felt a strong responsibility to listen and learn from the Town community. “The police department scandal, which happened right after George Floyd’s murder, brought out a lot of feelings about people feeling marginalized and afraid,” he said. “The job, as I understood it, was to try to work through those issues and make sure people were heard and make sure the police department turned itself around.”
Although Hogeland voted against the resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, he said he was moved by the community members who advocated for it. “It was hard to be one of the ones who said this is not something a small town should get involved in,” he said. “You want to encourage people to get involved and do exactly what these petitioners did, so I was sorry we couldn’t give them what they wanted to do.”
“I think a local government needs to be more mindful and modest of the boundaries to which you work,” he added. “That was a difficult conversation to have, and I really admire those who had it.”
Hogeland explained that he and his wife Anne are moving to Connecticut to be closer to the rest of their family. “We’re being taken out of Williamstown much more frequently, and we realized we need to go where the family is going,” he said.
He told the Record that he hopes students prioritize finding common ground and building community solutions, whether in a political career or elsewhere. “I hope people in their careers or local service remember that the goal should not be to win,” he said. “I would really encourage people to get involved and get involved not to win but to resolve.”
