In a press conference surrounded by colleagues, family and friends, Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen announced she would be retiring August 1. 

Hagen has served in the Saratoga County DA’s office in some capacity since 1993 — working her way up from Assistant District Attorney to the number two position within the office. She was elected District Attorney in 2014 and will retire with 32 years of service to the county.  

Much of her remarks focused on thanking the many people she’s worked with over the years. She thanked citizens, law enforcement, fellow attorneys, political leaders and her family for their support over the years. Special praise, however, was reserved for her staff. 

“No district attorney can do this job effectively without a team of professionals,” Heggen said.  “I have been blessed over the years to work with an amazing group of attorneys investigators and staff work to achieve the right and just result in each case.” 

Heggen said she’ll miss the camaraderie of the office but believes her departure won’t take away from their work.  

“I leave with a deep, immense sense of pride in what we have accomplished, and I have faith that the good work of this office will continue in the years to come,” Heggen said. “I know that the work will go on because they are they are the special sauce that makes everything happen.” 

Heggen made history as the first woman to be District Attorney in Saratoga County. In her remarks she noted this saying she followed in the footsteps of other female political leaders and hoped she made the path ‘longer and wider’ for anyone who comes after. 

Gratitude for Heggen’s work was expressed by First Assistant District Attorney Alan Poremba. Poremba said he’ll miss being able to talk with her at work about family and other personal matters. 

“Once in a while we get a chance to just unwind,” Poremba said, “It may be late on a Friday afternoon; we would just sit back take a deep breath and say, ‘What a week?’ And then we talk about our families, and we talk about what the weekend is going to be like. Those are the moments that I love the most, when I got to talk to Karen, on a personal level.”

Poremba also highlighted the way she handled the challenges of being a DA in light of changing laws and policies. 

“This may have been the hardest decade to be a DA in the state of New York, with jail reform, discovery reform, and parole reform.,” Poremba said. “She led this office, and she did such a fantastic job.” 

Poremba pointed out that while other jurisdictions saw many cases thrown out due to failure to adhere to the reforms, due Heggen’s leadership the same trend wasn’t repeated in Saratoga County.

As for what comes next, Heggen didn’t reveal any professional plans but said she wants to spend time with her family — particularly with her baby grandniece. As for her family’s reaction, Heggen told reporters that her husband is looking forward to not having to wait till the weekend to spend all day with her.  

Upon her retirement, Poremba will take over as acting DA until one can be elected. Heggen said she won’t endorse anyone to take her role while Poremba declined to say whether he’d be running as he wanted the focus to be on Heggen’s career. 

It was both a somber and celebratory night at the latest Saratoga Springs City Council meeting. 

The meeting took place on Jun 17. During the meeting, topics such as homelessness, a parade to honor Saratoga’s Baseball team and a new police horse took priority. City Council also held a moment of silence for two lawmakers recently killed in Minnesota. 

Homelessness

Homelessness was on everyone’s mind during the public comment portion of the meeting. All but two of the residents who spoke expressed concerns about what the city is doing to help the homeless population. 

Most of those who spoke advocated for low barrier homeless shelters and expressed concerns over an ordinance in the works that they worried would criminalize homelessness in the City of Saratoga Springs. 

The ordinance in question — entitled “Camping prohibited on certain public property” — would replace an ordinance passed in 2016 sought to prevent people from obstructing public sidewalks by sitting or laying in them. While Commissioner of Public Safety Tim Coll told reporters that the ordinance hadn’t been finalized yet, he did give some hint as to what it would look like during the meeting. 

Coll said the ordinance on the books right now isn’t enforced due to court rulings as well as being too vague for officers to properly enforce. The new ordinance would model one that was implemented by Grants Pass Oregon and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2024. 

“In substance, the new ordinance is going to say you can’t camp in a public parking garage, a public parking lot, a public gazebo or a public sidewalk,” Coll said. 

Coll said the new ordinance would specifically outline what camping materials entailed and expressed his views that it is “not humane” to allow people to live on the street. He also said the ordinance came after hearing from the business community who worried about the safety of their employees, particularly at night. 

Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi also spoke on the topic, clarifying that while the city paid for homeless shelters, it was not something that fell within their charter responsibilities. Instead, according to Commissioner Sanghvi, it was typically the responsibility of the county. 

Mayor John Safford also spoke, expressing his concern for the over 100 children facing homelessness in Saratoga Springs. 

A hearing on the proposed ordinance is set for July 1.

Police Department Gets a New Horse

A lease on a new police horse was approved at the meeting. The horse, named Sly, will be a familiar face to officers as it’s the same one they had to rescue from a frozen pond back in February. The 23-year-old horse has been leased free of charge to the department with the department just having to cover vet bills. 

According to Coll, the horse will help supplement the department at a time when one of their other horses, named Appollo, is set to retire due to old age. 

Parade for Baseball Teams Planned

Two of Saratoga’s baseball teams will receive a parade this coming week. The Saratoga Springs High School baseball team and the Saratoga Central Catholic School Baseball teams are both state champions this year — winning the titles on the same day. While certain details still need to be ironed out, according to city council the plan is for the parade to be on Broadway from Congress Park to Saratoga Springs City Hall on June 25. 

While there had been some discussion of the parade taking place on the sidewalk, the council was in agreement that a parade through the street would be more appropriate. 

Other Items of Note. 

Other items on the agenda for the meeting included a presentation on needed changes to the main Department of Public Works garage, the withdrawal of multiple ordinances regarding updated city employee pay due to the need to discuss them further and several jokes made by city council members about the lamas which followed them during the recent Flag Day Parade.