Contentious debate over city attorney's work patterns ends with two-year contract extension

City Attorney employment and contract terms provoked the meeting's most extensive debate on June 17. Councilmember Frampus moved to provide the city attorney 90 days' notice that his contract would not be renewed; that motion failed. Council later approved a two-year contract extension for the city attorney after an extended public discussion and a separate motion by Councilmember Voltz (later amended to two years); the final extension passed by unanimous vote, 7-0.

Frampus opened the discussion saying he had reviewed personnel and attendance records and said concerns included instances of remote work, vacation leave patterns that he said showed employees working while on vacation, and modest performance-evaluation scores across the attorney's three reviews. He said he could not in good conscience support another contract and moved to give 90 days' notice not to renew.

City Attorney Mister Carey responded to questions and defended his practice of occasionally working while on vacation to keep up with time-sensitive matters and avoid high outside-counsel bills and loss of continuity. Carey said he had notified council when he intended to work remotely and that the number of such instances was small. He said staff and council had not previously objected and that the practice avoided backlog and outside legal fees.

Council engaged in lengthy discussion. Some members expressed concerns about perceived irregularities in time reporting, key-card records and vacation usage; others underscored Carey's availability and performance on legal work and cautioned that terminating or refusing to renew without cause could carry liability and cost. A motion to give 90 days' notice not to renew failed (vote recorded as failed in roll call: motion did not pass). Following that defeat, Councilmember Voltz moved to renew the attorney's contract; that motion was seconded and amended on the floor to a two-year term (rather than three). The amended motion to extend the attorney's contract for two years passed, 7-0.

Council instructed staff to provide additional information and oversight tools (attendance/remote-work documentation, clarifications on how vacation and work-time are recorded) and discussed options including hiring an assistant or using outside counsel for short-term coverage; council did not direct immediate hiring. The city attorney said he wants to continue serving if the council wants him to, and he welcomed specific feedback he could act on.