Patti Littlefield (Provided photo — Patti Littlefield)

TUPPER LAKE — Town Supervisor Patti Littlefield has announced that she will not run for reelection in November.

That means, currently, village Trustee Clint Hollingsworth is the only candidate for the seat. Last week he became the Conservative Party’s nominee. The Republican and Democratic caucuses have not met yet.

Littlefield said Hollingsworth announcing his bid for supervisor did not play a role in her decision, though she said she’s glad someone’s running to fill the spot.

She said this is something she’s contemplated for a while now.

She’s taken on more responsibilities at her full-time job as a compliance officer with North Country Home Services, and her family is growing with grandchildren. She said this is the best choice for her family, employer and future.

Her father John Sparks was a village trustee and mayor, and she remembers her mother telling him, “Don’t overstay your welcome.”

“I don’t want to stay too long where people think I’m ineffective or they worry about whether they think somebody else needs to come in just for the sake of change,” Littlefield said.

“I never really was all in for running again,” she added.

Still, it was a hard decision to make. She said she spend “sleepless nights” considering her options.

Littlefield said she truly loves Tupper Lake, loves the job and loves being such an integral part of the community in her years as supervisor.

“I deeply appreciate your support and trust for allowing me to be your town supervisor for these past eight years,” Littlefield wrote in a statement. “To those who people who trusted me enough with our vote, please know that I consider that an enormous gift.”

Before getting elected supervisor, she spent two years as a town council member. She also worked for the village and was on the zoning board of appeals and board of assessment review.

She said it’s been “very fulfilling.”

She said she feels like, to stay, she’d need to devote more time to the town.

Littlefield already devotes a lot of time to being supervisor, while also working a full-time job. It is common to see her car parked at the town offices on Demars Boulevard in the evening. Littlefield said that means she’s working late on town business. Otherwise, she’s working late for her other job.

“There’s not enough hours in the day, and for some reason I cannot figure out a way to make more hours in a day,” Littlefield said.

She also said she wants to devote more time with her three granddaughters, who are 5, 2 and 1 year old.

“It’s time to get back to my other life,” she said.

Littlefield said when she eventually retires, she may want to return to town government.

Littlefield said there’s a lot she’s proud of during her time leading the town. She said it has brought in around $4 million in grants to improve facilities all over town, consolidated its water and sewer districts — an effort decades in the making — vastly expanded the size and use of the James C. Frenette Sr. Recreational Cross-Country Trails and the country club they’re in, entertained children at Little Wolf Beach and the summer day camp, passed budgets under the tax cap every year and kept debt levels low in the general fund.

Littlefield said with positions open on both the town and village board, there has not been a better time for someone interested in local government to get involved. But she said whoever runs should have the best interests of Tupper Lake’s residents in mind, rather than a personal agenda.