Sandpoint council confirms city attorney, approves revised legal-services agreement

Sandpoint City Council on Oct. 8 approved a revised legal-services agreement with Lake City Law Group PLLC and confirmed Fonda L. Jovic as the city—s appointed city attorney following an executive session.

The action, taken after the council met in executive session under Idaho Code section 74 6 1 b and f, adopted amendments to the proposed resolution clarifying that Jovic "is hereby confirmed as the appointed city attorney," struck language saying an earlier agreement had expired, and replaced several terms to align removal and voting language with the city code.

Council members said the changes were intended to remove ambiguity about the appointment and the scope of the legal-services agreement. Mayor Jeremy Grimm opened the public portion after the executive session by saying the council had "talked through the proposed contract and discussed a number of elements" and that the meeting produced "a path forward that's gonna serve the residents of Sandpoint very well." Grimm also said the council would follow up at the next meeting with the typical oath and confirmation formalities.

Among the specific edits the council adopted were changing the phrase "shall serve as the appointed city attorney" to a definitive confirmation phrasing and revising removal language from "for cause" to the city-code phrase "for any cause deemed sufficient." Council members also agreed to change any reference to a "supermajority" vote threshold to the city-code standard of "one-half plus one." Council President Deb Ruhl and other members said those wording changes were clarifying and consistent with past practice.

The council also addressed a separate, short-term legal-services arrangement with Harrington Associates PLLC. Mayor Grimm said he had spoken with Mr. Harrington and would provide 48 hours' notice to end that interim agreement; the council took no further action on that item.

Before moving into executive session, the council approved the payables originally listed in the Oct. 1 packet, a regular-payables total of $684,822.38. The meeting convened at 5:30 p.m., went into an executive session, reconvened at 8:19 p.m., and adjourned at 8:32 p.m.

The resolution as amended passed on a roll-call vote. Council members said the amendments should make the appointment and the legal-services relationship clearer for staff, for the council and for the public. The council indicated it will complete the formal confirmation (including oath) at its next regular meeting.