POUGHKEEPSIE – The City of Poughkeepsie hired veteran private practice attorney Sarah Wilson to fill a vacancy on the city’s corporation counsel office. The opening was created when Victor Aqueel left the city to join a private practice.
Wilson joined the city’s staff this week after a three-year stint with McCabe and Mack, a local law firm just a few blocks away from city hall.
Wilson and her husband moved to Poughkeepsie from Chicago in 2015. The couple had moved to the Midwest from Brooklyn, which is where they lived when they “fell in love with the Hudson River Valley,” Wilson said.
Mayor Rob Rolison said the administration, city hall and the residents of Poughkeepsie “are lucky to have Sarah Wilson and her great legal mind on the city’s legal team.”
The addition of Wilson “will allow the office to continue the city’s aggressive enforcement of vacant and abandoned properties and other quality of life nuisances,” said
Corporation Counsel Paul Ackerman. “Her background as a litigator allows for continuity in the office of Corporation Counsel. As a resident of the City of Poughkeepsie and the former chair of the Arts Commission, she has a demonstrated passion for the city.”
“I look forward to being involved with the commissions and the common council in addressing all of the legal elements related to government,” Wilson said.
The Corporation Counsel represents the City government in all legal matters. It prosecutes various criminal actions in City Court, advises the Mayor, Common Council and all City departments, drafts legislation, negotiates labor, real estate, and development contracts and handles all litigation.
Wilson is also tasked with acting as the city’s prosecutor when it comes to violations that people have to answer in city court.
