Photo Provided Sen. Frank Hoagland announced his retirement, effective Dec. 1.

By ROBERT A. DEFRANK

Times Leader Staff Writer

COLUMBUS — Ohio Sen. Frank Hoagland said his time in office has made him more appreciative of the quality of his district’s residents and the strength and potential of the area for the future.

On Tuesday, Hoagland, R-Mingo Junction, announced his planned retirement from the Ohio Senate, with his resignation to take effect Dec. 1. He was first elected to represent the 30th Senate District in 2016 and was reelected in 2020. The Senate will establish a screening committee to review potential replacements for the remainder of the unexpired term.

Hoagland was contacted and did not elaborate on his reasons for retirement.

“What I’d rather do is just say thank you to the people who supported me and voted me in for the 30th District. I appreciated all the support,” he said.

A press release from Hoagland’s office states he spent a career in the U.S. Navy and continued to fight for his fellow veterans by securing funding for key mental health and rehabilitation programs in the state budget.

“This job is not about me,” he said in a phone interview. “It’s about the people of the 30th District. That’s what it’s about. We did this, not Frank Hoagland. This is the stuff that we did. We did make an impact in the 30th District — just take a look around, see what we’ve got for infrastructure and everything else that we’ve got going on.”

He commented on the challenges for the region and potential for the future

“We’ve got to be creative on how we can think on economic development. Our infrastructure is surpassable. We can mobilize ourselves around our area fairly well. We’ve still got some road slips, some infrastructure needs repaired for the most part. I think we’ve made a lot of headway in that direction, but we’ve got to get smart on how we can get creative and creating shovel-ready real estate for potential businesses. We’ve got to start attracting businesses,” he said.

“This lift is all of us. We’re all in this together to make something happen. That goes from our local leadership, all the way to some young kid who has a dream to own their own business,” he added.

Hoagland encourages anyone interested to seek elected office.

“If anybody wants to do it, they should pony up. Go do it. At least try, that’s all I did,” Hoagland said. “I never made you one promise the entire time I’ve been in office. I just said I would do the best that I could.”

Hoagland looks forward to spending time with his grandchild and family.

“Anybody that knows me knows that I’m going to continue trying to do something somewhere,” he concluded. “I’m definitely a people-helping-people type person.”