Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Six-term Democratic Queensbury Town Supervisor John Strough and first-term Ward 3 Republican Councilman Mike Dixon face off this November in the race for Town Supervisor.
Mr. Dixon, 60, started his career in the radiology department at Glens Falls Hospital, after a brief time at then-Adirondack Community College. He was trained through an in-house hospital program and says he soon moved into management. After 26 years at Glens Falls, he’s in a similar position at Saratoga Hospital.
If he wins for Supervisor, Mr. Dixon said he plans to retire from the hospital.
Mr. Strough, 74, attended then-Adirondack Community College and SUNY Buffalo. He first hoped to be a pilot but instead became a history teacher, spending his full career teaching at Queensbury.
Prior to his 12 years as Supervisor, he served on the Planning Board, and then 10 years on the Town Board. Mr. Dixon served six years on the Planning Board before becoming a town councilman.
Mr. Strough addresses his bout with prostate cancer: “Even when I was going through chemo last year, I went to work every day,” he says. “I’m going to have cancer the rest of my life. But it’s in the backseat. I feel good now. I bought a new mountain bike in May. I’ve put 350 miles on it, 50 runs.”
Mr. Dixon says, “Queensbury is doing well, but I’d say it is not successful right now. We’re existing. My position is on infrastructure, roads, water, our businesses, the basics. By taking care of those core components, we can revive Queensbury. Because I do believe Queensbury is starting to flounder….
“We’re not investing to make businesses truly want to come here. We’re just reaping the rewards. A business opens up, we get the sales tax revenue. A lot of that is just by chance. Let’s be proactive so we can get businesses here.”
Mr. Dixon says, “I want to hear from the business leaders. I’m hearing from some, one of the obstacles is our codes, the length of time it takes from the time you propose a project to the time you can get shovels in the ground.”
“We’re stifling our own business,” he says. He says developer Sonny Bonacio is “a wonderful partner with Saratoga, [and] becoming a wonderful partner with Glens Falls. I’d love to have that input on Queensbury in the future.”
Mr. Strough says, “You’ve got to know what you’re doing…It’s not a political job. It’s a management job. You have to understand zoning, what works and what doesn’t. The more that you can help businesses, it keeps the taxes down for the residential people. Most of your commercial enterprises do not use the services that residential does.”
Mr. Strough says, “I’m a proven candidate. I’m a person that gets things done. I know how to do the job. I do it well. I think I’m a good ambassador for Queensbury…
“I’m very fiscally conservative. I don’t give everybody what they ask for. But if you take a look at the Town, the quality of life, the Parks and Rec Department, the Highway Department: People tell me, they’re pretty happy with the town services, and all the other things that enhance the quality of life in town.”
“I work very hard. I’ve managed the town well. I think I represent the town well, and I’ll continue doing that.”
“I am generally pro economic development,” Mr. Strough says, “as long as it doesn’t have a negative impact on the neighbors.
“Zoning has to be fluid,” Mr. Strough says. “You create it for a stereotypical situation, but it has to be dynamic.”
He suggests “symbiotic relationships,” such as apartments in walking distance of big box stores, or a proposed medical complex with on-site housing opportunities and amenities for staff on site.
He cites the Exit 18 commercial zone, improved by zoning changes and Carey Road, which “sat dormant” until the Town brought in sewer lines.
Mr. Dixon questions the delay in resolving the Jenkinsville water issue, where 120-plus households are using bottled water due to contaminants including PFOA and 1,4-dioxane detected in well water.
“That’s been five years, making little to no action,” Mr. Dixon says.
Mr. Strough says, “Well it is” a slow process to implement a municipal water system. He cites “30, 40, 50 meetings” with entities from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to engineers, and a two-year process to attain $5 million in state grants to help offset the $7.7 million project cost. He said he expects work to begin next year.
The town last month held a hearing on the mapping plan for water mains.
Mr. Strough cites Main Street, from Northway Exit 18 to the Glens Falls line as an effort “that’s coming along slowly but nicely.”
The town adjusted regulations, he said, “for a better pedestrian and passerby experience…The buildings had to be built up to the sidewalk,” with interconnected, shared parking hidden behind.
Mr. Dixon calls the same corridor “just a thoroughfare to Glens Falls” with “no charm.” He said he would add parking “in a park-like setting, a place to come back to and maybe sit, enjoy,” potentially by purchasing property there. “Glens Falls is miles ahead of us on this.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Dixon says, “We’ve completely taken our eyes off of Route 9, where the outlets are. Not once have you ever seen Christmas lights, flowers, flags, there’s nothing decorating the town.”
The Queensbury Town Supervisor is paid $69,294 plus benefits by the town and $26,250 by the county with eligibilty for county benefits for serving on the County Board of Supervisors.
The Queensbury Town Supervisor and Town Board serve two-year terms. This year’s election is for one year, however, to align with the state edict that shifts most local elections to the same cycle as state and national elections.
Strough also runs on Conservative line; Dixon also runs on his own ‘Parental Rights’
There’s a story to be told in the extra ballot lines that Democrat John Strough and Republican Michael Dixon will have in their Nov. 4 race for Queensbury Town Supervisor.
Mr. Strough again has the Warren County Conservative nomination, which rankles Mr. Dixon. “I wasn’t even brought up to interview,” he says, though he contends his values best align with Conservatives.
Mr. Strough terms himself “very fiscally conservative” and says, “The Conservatives like me because our taxes are the lowest in the Capital Region.”
Mr. Dixon created his own extra line on the ballot, naming it “Parental Rights,” in reference to last year’s public referendum on Proposition One, the state constitutional amendment — now law — known to supporters as the Equal Rights Law, and to detractors as the Parent Replacement Act.
At the time, Mr. Strough issued a Supervisor’s proclamation backing Prop One. His proposed town resolution in favor of the act failed, with Mr. Strough casting the lone “yes” vote. It sparked an hour of impassioned public comment.
Mr. Dixon says, “The biggest difference between me and the current Supervisor is that he was fully endorsing Proposition One. For me, the proposal to change the constitution, when we’ve already got laws in place that protect individuals, it just goes way too far. It opens up a can of worms…
“As I’m knocking on doors, there’s a lot of people that are Conservatives, and they’re actually stymied that the Conservatives endorsed somebody that had supported Proposition One. So that’s the big thing on where that was.”
Mr. Dixon posted an image of this year’s ballot with a red X through Mr. Strough’s name on the Conservative line, “so people can see that John is on that ballot.”
Mr. Dixon wrote, “Conservatives beware….One who supports men playing in women’s sports, men in women’s rest rooms without question and one who pushed for a million dollars to fund a museum that would draw few is no conservative.” That’s a reference to the failed effort for Warren County to fund a proposed Joseph Warren Museum.
Mr. Dixon says, “People need to know who their supervisor is and where their stance is on items. I’ve been very firm. I’m not anti-gay, I’m not anti-trans. But (Prop One) was flawed from the get-go: Men in ladies’ dressing rooms, in ladies’ rest rooms. I think it’s an impact on women’s rights.”
Mr. Strough rejects Mr. Dixon’s statement. “He put out that John Strough supports transgender men going into women’s bathrooms. I never said that. I don’t support it…
“I said I supported Proposition One because I support equality — racial and gender equality, male, female.
“I never said I supported the rest of that…but my opponent is making it look like I did. In my mind, that’s a dishonest approach. That bothers me, and I think it’s important that a person in this office, Town Supervisor, be a person of 100% integrity.”
Mr. Strough says, “I don’t think it’s fair that a man biologically be on a woman’s official team. Unofficial? Fine. I mean, the way I met my wife was we went to adult (coed) volleyball.”
“I never said that Proposition One was about that. That is something manufactured by my opponent, Michael Dixon.”
Mr. Dixon subsequently took down the ballot image. He says, “I did take the posting down, because somebody posted what looked like a political cartoon, implying it came from John’s Facebook. I don’t agree with John, but I can’t validate that. I got in there and pulled that post off, so it wouldn’t keep circulating. Because it’s wrong.” — Cathy DeDe
Copyright © 2025 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved
