The council welcomes Zaehringer into her new role on Monday.
Hamden’s Legislative Council introduced a new member this week, two months after previous Council President and District One representative Mick McGarry resigned from the role.
Kristen Zaehringer: Hamden born and raised, now serving her town.
Her name is Kristen Zaehringer. She’s the Democratic Town Committee’s endorsed candidate for the spot, and will face off with the GOP’s endorsed First District candidate Laura Santino in the Nov. 2 general election.
Zaehringer sat in on the council’s Sept. 20 meeting, during which President Pro-Tempore Kathleen Schomaker announced that she will fill in for McGarry through November.
Zaehringer was the only person who sent in a letter expressing interest in the job to the council.
In that Sept. 15 message, Zaehringer, a business dispute and employment attorney who graduated from Quinnipiac Law School, said she was “seeking this position because I want to do my part to give back to the community that I have called home since my childhood.”
She added that her early participation in the Hamden Middle School’s Constitutional Convention and Hamden High student council as a teenager prompted her “life-long passion for the study of law, government, and civics.”
Though Zaehringer only observed Monday’s session, Schomaker welcomed her aboard, saying, “One sit-in meeting, and I’m very encouraged that she’s going to be a valued asset and addition to this council … and highly likely to the next council.”