Council authorizes transfer of outside counsel and approves law director's draft response on economic development request

Mentor City Council on May 6 approved two law‑office matters: authorization to retain Franz Ward law firm to continue outside counsel services provided by attorney Jen Phillips, and authorization for the law director to finalize and send a draft response to a proposal from Uptown Mentor LLC.

Counsel explained that Jen Phillips recently left McDonald Hopkins and became a partner at Franz Ward; because the city’s existing fee agreement is with McDonald Hopkins, council was asked to authorize terminating that retainer, transfer the file to Ms. Phillips at Franz Ward, and enter a new retainer with Franz Ward.

The council also considered a separate, unusual request to permit the law director to send a written response to a pending Uptown Mentor LLC economic development proposal. The law director said the draft letter would be the city's official response to the developer’s request and that council’s affirmative vote would authorize completing the letter and sending it; he said a negative vote would withhold that authorization. Council voted to authorize the law director to finalize and send the letter. Staff emphasized the response does not foreclose further negotiations.

Why it matters: the approvals preserve continuity of outside counsel services and authorized staff to provide an official response to a pending economic development request, which could affect future negotiations with a private developer.