Ashley Milne holds her daughter Eva, then 3, at a caucus in 2023. Milne resigned from the Harrietstown council recently, as she and her family are moving out west. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — Harrietstown Councilwoman Ashley Milne has resigned from her seat after she and her family moved out west, setting the council up to make a decision on how to appoint someone to fill the vacancy with a contested election for two other council seats coming up in less than two weeks.

Milne left town on Friday evening and by Monday afternoon was seven hours away from her new home, speaking to the Enterprise from the side of the road in Wyoming.

Her husband Andrew got a job offer in Utah and told her it was her decision if they chose to move. Milne admitted it was a hard choice, but her family lives in Idaho and Utah and she wanted to move closer to them.

“My heart feels very torn in both places,” Milne said. “My heart is in the Adirondacks, but my roots are out west.”

She’s lived here for seven years and feels sad to be walking away.

The Milnes will maintain ownership of local hotels, The Ashley and the Sara Placid Inn, which they bought and renovated in their time here.

–

Decision time

–

There is a contested four-way race for two council seats on the ballot Nov. 4.

Incumbents Tracey Schrader and Johnny Williams are running for reelection. Doug Haney and Craig Donaldson are running to serve on the board.

The council is expected to discuss its plans for filling Milne’s vacancy at a meeting on Thursday. She has left halfway through her term.

There are several ways the council could select an appointee. They could ask whoever places third in the election to serve. They could solicit application letters as they have in the past. They could just choose someone to appoint. Or they could choose some other method.

Whoever the council appoints will serve the remainder of Milne’s term, which expires at the end of 2027.

There are also several times when the council could decide how it will pick an appointee. Williams feels the council should decide how it will appoint a new member before the election. Town Supervisor Jordanna Mallach said it makes sense to her to pass the budget first and then figure out how to fill the vacancy. She said it’s not detrimental to the board’s actions to have four members instead of five. They’re still able to pass the budget and take votes. The budget vote is scheduled for Nov. 13.

–

Milne’s tenure

–

Milne has enjoyed raising her family in the Adirondacks greatly.

“I tell everyone that God and the universe brought me here,” she said.

Andrew got a job offer to work on the Saranac Waterfront Lodge — now voco Saranac Lake. They were living in Washington, D.C. at the time and were hesitant to move to “the middle of nowhere.” But they decided to check out town, and immediately realized it’d be a nice place to raise their family.

They moved here with their son Ollie and their daughter Eva was born on the week everything closed for the coronavirus pandemic. Ollie is now 9 and Eva is 5.

With a background in policy analysis and social science, Milne previously worked for the New York state Assembly, U.S. House of Representatives, Scottish Parliament and a Harvard-based think tank.

“Local government is actually where things really truly happen,” Milne said.

She got involved in the local chapter of the Republican Party and Adirondack Voters for Change soon after moving here, and met many of the people she’d work with at a “meet the candidates” event.

Milne was elected for two terms on the board — in 2019 and 2023.

Her goals have been to build a community people want to raise families in and to be stewards of the town’s “collective fund” to ensure the unity, safety and growth of the community.

She hopes she left the town better than she found it.

She’s occasionally talked about representing the “mom vote,” initially campaigning on a feeling that young parents’ views are not always represented in local government.

“There’s such a scarcity of time and resources among young moms,” Milne said.

But their perspective is important for local government to have when making decisions, she said.

As a parent around other parents, she’s often solicited the opinions and hopes of her peers in these circles when the town council was making big decisions.

Mallach said Milne has always done a good job of making sure the board looks at the impact their decisions have on families.

Milne said there’s a deluge of diversity in thought, beliefs and values in town. Her goal has been to unify and look past differences. Often, she said, she’s seen people argue and realize they were arguing for the same things.

Some exciting days on the job include getting $9 million in grants to renovate the town-owned Adirondack Regional Airport, which Milne said will put the airport “on the map.” She’s also proud of Mallach’s work on getting Smart Growth grants to improve the municipal park.

Outside of her town council work, Milne also did research for the Adirondack Community Foundation, drafting and mapping the social safety net of the entire Adirondack region.

Milne also served as executive director for the Adirondack Carousel, programming manager at the Saranac Lake Youth Center and the head of delegation services for the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games.

“I am so grateful for the people of Harrietstown. Thank you for entrusting me in that position. I was a new person and you welcomed me with open arms,” Milne said.

She added that it will be good to have a new voice on the board. No one should serve for too long, she feels.

She said she is leaving the town in “excellent hands,” speaking highly of her councilmembers and especially of Mallach.

“I’ll miss serving alongside councilwoman Milne. She worked hard for the residents of Harrietstown,” Williams said.

The meeting on Thursday will take place at 6 p.m. in the basement of the Harrietstown Town Hall. It can also be attended over Zoom at tinyurl.com/pez69tf7 or by using the meeting ID 862 6358 1750 and the passcode 059521.

Schrader and Haney are running on the Democratic line. Williams and Donaldson are running on the Republican line. To read more about the Democratic candidates, go to tinyurl.com/5w753fxe. To read more about the Republican candidates, go to tinyurl.com/bdzz25sp.