Council rejects mayor's proposed $60,000 professional services agreement for outside counsel

At the Aug. 4 meeting the mayor asked the council to approve Contract C2621, an agreement for professional services with attorney Peter J. McClellan. The contract would have allowed up to $60,000 in professional services to be made available this fiscal year and described work to be performed "under the direction and control of the city solicitor," while invoices would route through the mayor's office.

The solicitor and multiple councilors objected. The solicitor said the contract duplicates a council-owned legal office and argued the law department should be allowed to post and fill an assistant-city-solicitor vacancy; finance staff explained limited professional-services budget headroom. Councilors asked whether the contract would preclude hiring a full-time assistant or reduce funds available for existing outside counsel. The mayor defended the proposal as a short-term, low-cost way to bring experienced municipal counsel into the city team.

After extended debate the motion to approve the contract failed on a roll-call vote. A number of councilors cited charter questions and the practical effect on the legal department budget as reasons to reject the measure.

Why it matters: The vote exposed persistent disagreements over how the city funds and organizes legal services and underscored council concern about budget trade-offs and governance boundaries between the mayor's office and the council-controlled law department.

What's next: The solicitor said the council must decide where legal-office hiring authority lies and whether to create or fund a permanent assistant solicitor position; the administration may revisit staffing and budget options.