Jeff Hogg says threats led to his resignation as Northport City Council president

Northport City Council President Jeff Hogg resigned from the position Thursday, in an email listing his accomplishments, but citing threats and harassment as reasons for the decision.

“While so much input to me has been incredibly positive, over the last six months, my family and I have encountered physical threats, death threats, and harassing communications,” Hogg wrote, in an email shared with media by City Administrator Glenda Webb.

More: Northport City Council approves $350 million water park and resort development

“These actions have also had an adverse effect on my career and future with my employer, who has also encountered these negative communications. This has the potential to negatively affect my family's livelihood, as well as the livelihood of the people I work with on a daily basis.”

Hogg works as an insurance agent for the Fitts Agency.

Over the past several months, Northport council meetings have frequently been contentious. In June, an organized opposition arose against selling the 70-year-old Northport Community Center Park, to developers hoping to build a mixed residential and retail site. That plan was quietly dropped in December, after a six-month due diligence study period.

Also last fall, the Kentuck Art Center disagreed with the council’s proposed contract for 2024 and beyond. Although the council made a December effort to meet Kentuck’s concerns, which included the ongoing development of a sports complex immediately adjacent to Kentuck Park, the Kentuck board had in November announced staff was actively seeking a new home for its centerpiece festival.

For the first time in its 50-plus-year existence, the annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts, a major draw and bragging point for the area, will move to Tuscaloosa. The 53rd Kentuck Festival of the Arts will be held in the Druid City’s Snow Hinton Park on Oct. 19-20.

More recently, in what some Northport residents termed a “bait-and-switch,” the council voted to move forward on a potential $350 million project called University Beach. Earlier, the idea had been floated as a relatively modest 11-acre recreational spot. The newer proposal would require 77 acres, and add a lagoon, upscale residences, dining and entertainment options, and more.

With that on the agenda, the Feb. 19 meeting ran to three hours, with a packed City Hall, and an overflow room, teeming with those wishing to speak against the larger concept, or to at least to delay the vote.

Both sides of the park issue engaged heavily on social media, though councilors including Hogg were said to have blocked some citizens. Councilors had then noted the harassing nature of some of the messages.

To end his resignation, Hogg also attached a three-page list of what he saw as the council's major accomplishments during his tenure.

Hogg was elected as the District 5 representative on the Northport City Council in 2016. In 2023, he was elected council president by his peers.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Why Northport City Council President Jeff Hogg decided to resign