City attorney: active neighborhood-revitalization litigation, receiver actions pending; follow-up in judiciary committee recommended

Summary

The city attorney’s office told the committee it is pursuing multiple receiver actions in circuit court under the neighborhood revitalization team; staff said litigation strategy is not appropriate for open committee discussion and recommended follow-up in judiciary and legislation committee sessions.

A representative of the City Attorney’s Office provided a brief update on neighborhood-revitalization litigation, saying the department has rebuilt a neighborhood revitalization team led by a deputy and assigned three assistant city attorneys to prosecute building and zoning violations and to pursue receivership and other legal remedies.

The attorney said multiple receiver actions are pending in circuit court. He asked that detailed litigation discussion be handled in the Judiciary & Legislation Committee (or a closed session) because active litigation strategy should not be discussed publicly. Committee members agreed to route future updates on litigation and receivership work to the appropriate committee and recommended removing the open-committee agenda item for litigation updates to avoid public disclosure of privileged strategy.