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City council appoints municipal solicitor on $5,700 monthly retainer and confirms other reorganizational posts
Summary
At its reorganizational meeting the council appointed Matthew Gigg of Dillon McCandless King Kalogram LLP as municipal solicitor on a $5,700 monthly retainer, approved a new city manager and open-records officer, named the local emergency management coordinator and confirmed the city's depositories and newspaper of record.
The city council voted to appoint Matthew Gigg of Dillon McCandless King Kalogram LLP as the city's solicitor under a monthly retainer of $5,700, and took several other standard reorganizational actions including naming a city manager, designating an open-records officer, appointing a local emergency management coordinator and confirming the city's depositories and newspaper of record.
The solicitor appointment passed after council members chose the retainer option from two proposals offered by the firm. The retainer amount was presented as roughly equivalent to 30 hours of work per month at a municipal billing rate of $190 per hour; the firm also offered an alternative option to bill only for hours actually worked. Litigation matters would be billed at the same $190 hourly rate.
Council members then appointed Lisa Hagberg and Catherine Lynn Strategies to serve as city manager and the city's open-records officer, respectively, and voted to name Scott Farrell as the local emergency management coordinator. The council confirmed the city's depositories and signatories and designated the Courier Express as the newspaper for required publications. The council also approved the consent agenda, which included minutes from Dec. 23 and the bills to pay.
The solicitor, identified in the meeting as representing Dillon McCandless King Kalogram LLP, described the firm's work as providing “excellent service and timely responses” to the city and noted that the firm has been serving the municipality in recent months. The firm presented two fee options to council: the $5,700 monthly retainer (option A) and a straight billable-time approach (option B); separate ongoing litigation matters would be billed at $190 per hour.
Council members discussed the choice between a predictable monthly retainer and a billable-hours model. One council member said the coming year was expected to be “a heavy year” in terms of legal support and recommended the retainer. A motion to appoint Matthew Gigg with the $5,700 retainer was made and seconded; roll-call vote responses recorded in the meeting transcript show affirmative votes from the members called.
Other reorganizational items were carried by voice or roll-call vote. The council approved the appointment of Lisa Hagberg and Catherine Lynn Strategies as manager and open-records officer, respectively; appointed Scott Farrell as local emergency management coordinator; confirmed the list of depositories (as shown in meeting materials) and designated the Courier Express for legal notices; and approved the consent agenda covering minutes and bills.
The council chair noted there are additional vacancies on boards, commissions and authorities that could not be filled at the meeting because the staff report showed numerous open seats; the council asked staff to post openings and seek volunteers for future meetings.
Votes at a glance: the transcript records affirmative votes for the motions called during the reorganizational agenda; the motions recorded in the public transcript were approved by the members who were polled by name during the meeting.
