Islip Town Attorney Pierce Cohalan, son of the former county executive and now State Supreme Court Justice Peter Fox Cohalan, has handed in his resignation but said he has no interest in running for town supervisor or county executive.
Cohalan, who has been on the job about a year, filed his letter late Friday with the town clerk and he will leave the job on May 23, the eve of the Suffok GOP convention. While ruling out a run for either the top town or county office, Cohalan declined to disclose his plans other than to say there are “lots of opportunities.” Cohalan’s father and grandfather also served as Islip Supervisors and later became judges.
Cohalan’s resignation came on the same day that his top deputy Mea Knapp, former Suffolk OTB president, was going through her last day on the town job. She had resigned earlier. The power to appoint a new town attorney rests with the 4-1 Republican town board.
“I enjoyed working with him and I’m very disappointed he’s leaving,” said Philip Nolan, the town’s Democratic supervisor.
Rick Brand and Juliet Chung