BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — Former St. Lawrence County Legislator and former Chief Assistant District Attorney David Haggard has been appointed to serve as Potsdam town justice.

Haggard will serve a 13-month term to replace long-time Town Justice Sam Charleson who will retire Dec. 1.

The town board approved Haggard’s appointment following an executive session at their Nov. 4 meeting.

Haggard has a long history of public and legal employment, as well as political involvement, in the county and the town.

He served as District Attorney Mary Rain’s second-in-command (chief assistant district attorney) for two years before resigning in March 2016, but worked as an attorney for 12 years before. Prior to that he was a vice president of Charter One Bank, overseeing a region from Glens Falls to Watertown.

Haggard ran as a Democrat for county district attorney in 2017, but pulled out of the race prior to the election.

He was elected to the District 10 seat (which covers the village of Potsdam) on the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators in 2018, but resigned in March of 2020 to take a job as general counsel for the county Department of Social Services.

Haggard was replaced on the county legislature by his wife, Margaret, who was appointed at that time. She won election to the seat in 2020 and still serves at the District 10 legislator.

In April 2021, county legislators voted, by a one vote majority, to give control of DSS’s legal team to County Attorney Steve Button.

Those legislators voting for the change cited a huge backlog of legal custody cases within the department which were keeping more than 350 foster children in county care. The vote at that time dissolved the DSS attorney positions, however Haggard and the other DSS attorneys were given the option to re-apply as assistant county attorneys.

The county attorney confirmed that Haggard opted to not re-apply for employment with the county.