Town councilman and lifelong Saugerties resident Paul Andreassen announced March 2 his intentions of running for town supervisor this November.
Andreassen, 63, was elected to the town board in 2017 on the Democratic, Conservative and Independence party lines, leading all four town council candidates in votes. During his time on the board, Andreassen, a former town building inspector and an enrolled member of the Independence Party, has advocated for fiscal responsibility and supported environmental causes.
“[I will] be seeking the endorsement of all major parties as well as the support of those enrolled and non-enrolled voters throughout Saugerties in the general election. People, not politics,” Andreassen wrote in his email announcing his candidacy.
Incumbent supervisor Fred Costello Jr., who won election in 2017 on the Democratic, Working Families and Independence party lines, said March 4 that he intends to run for re-election.
Andreassen, a Malden-on-Hudson resident, has served as building inspector for the towns of Saugerties, New Paltz, Woodstock and Ulster. Andreassen is also a “badged” building inspector with FEMA, through which he recently assessed damage to homes in Houston and Miami after Hurricane Harvey, and a state Department of State instructor for courses on code compliance. Andreassen is the leader of the Paul Luke Band, for which he has written and performed an estimated 400 songs. He and his wife Claudia, a Saugerties town justice, have three children and three grandchildren between them. His stepson, Crispin Kott, is a writer for Ulster Publishing/Hudson Valley One.
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