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City attorney outlines office staffing, property acquisitions and limited outside-lawyer spending
Summary
The city attorney briefed the finance committee on the Office of the City Attorney’s workload, staff structure, recent property acquisitions for University Boulevard East and relatively low outside counsel spending compared with peer cities.
The city attorney told the Tuscaloosa City Council Finance Committee that the Office of the City Attorney (OCA) has handled an extensive caseload in the last year and currently relies primarily on in-house attorneys and legal assistants, with limited use of outside counsel.
The city attorney said OCA drafted ‘‘over a thousand resolutions and ordinances,’’ handled roughly 600 contracts and closed about 1,700 internal files over the past year. The office also prosecuted about 15,000 cases, plus about 108 circuit court matters that proceeded to jury appeal, the attorney said.
The city attorney reviewed the OCA staffing structure: two deputies (named by role), two senior associate city attorneys (Sarah Miller, who handles procurement and contracting, and Chad Hobbs, who works on Elevate projects and litigation), additional associates and a complement of six support staff and five legal assistants. The attorney said the office has been largely level-funded and that ‘‘the vast majority of our budget is human capital.’’
On acquisitions, the city attorney highlighted recent work that closed more than 50 property acquisitions in the previous six months for the University Boulevard East project in one council district, noting the acquisitions were completed without using eminent domain and were ‘‘about 20% under what was budgeted for property acquisition.’’ The attorney said that represented roughly $200,000 under a $1.5 million acquisition budget.
On outside counsel spending, the attorney said the city spends relatively little compared with other municipalities. The attorney estimated the city’s outside legal services spending was ‘‘somewhere in the neighborhood of a little less than $100,000’’ for the year, while noting that some outside-services line items include appraisers, a lobbyist and other non-legal costs (the attorney named the lobbyist payment as approximately $48,000). The attorney contrasted that with an example from Mobile, which reportedly spent $5 million on outside counsel in one year.
Committee members asked about insurance coverage for certain defenses; the attorney said insurance often covers defense work and the insurer selects counsel in those instances. The attorney also discussed retirement timing and succession risks, saying several senior attorneys are near retirement and that the office has had some success hiring entry- and mid-career attorneys when positions open.
No formal committee vote occurred on these topics; the presentation was informational.
