Robert L. Zangla, a chief assistant district attorney under former District Attorney Jim Farrell and District Attorney Meagan Galligan, will soon be departing the DA's Office to work for County Attorney Michael McGuire, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
A few minutes after this story was initially published, McGuire confirmed the news.
"That is correct," McGuire said in response to an email inquiry from The SullivanTimes. "We are happy to have him on board to aggressively protect the children of our county. But he does not start for a couple of weeks."
McGuire recently told the Legislature during a public meeting that the salary for the open attorney position in his office had to be increased to secure a veteran litigator, who was unnamed at the time. At the time, McGuire said he needed someone to advocate for children in Family Court.
Galligan, who was once junior to Zangla in Farrell's DA office, has said recently that a slew of departures from her office had much to do with higher salaries in other counties that Sullivan was not competing with.
But the source said that Zangla, 55, will also be taking a reduction in salary to join the County Attorney's Office. One source put that salary cut at at least $10,000.
Zangla was chief assistant district attorney under Farrell from 2014 through 2016 before departing for an ADA position with Rensselaer County. That's when Galligan was elevated by Farrell to chief assistant district attorney. He then returned to the Sullivan County District Attorney's Office as an ADA, and, under Farrell or Galligan, was promoted back as chief assistant district attorney.
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