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Baldwin City Council confirms several mayoral appointments after heated debate over city attorney hiring process
Summary
Baldwin City Council approved a slate of mayoral appointments including a new city attorney, police and fire chiefs, and city clerk. The most contentious discussion centered on whether the council should require an RFP before confirming the mayor's pick for city attorney.
The Baldwin City Council voted to confirm a series of mayoral appointments Tuesday, approving nominees for city treasurer, city judge, city attorney, police chief, fire chief and city clerk after an extended discussion about the process used to fill the city attorney post.
Mayor (name not specified) nominated Russ Harding for city treasurer and moved the appointment; the council approved the nomination by voice vote. The council also approved Matt Curry to serve another term as city judge after Curry introduced himself and summarized his local legal experience.
Jessica Wortham introduced herself as the mayor's nominee for city attorney and described more than a decade of prosecutorial experience in Texas, including juvenile and child-protective-services work, and said she had begun reviewing Baldwin City's code and had enrolled in continuing legal-education courses to build municipal-law expertise: "I've already signed up for CLE courses on my own," she said.
Several council members pressed Wortham and the mayor about municipal-law experience and the hiring process. One councilmember urged postponing the appointment and issuing an RFP to allow multiple candidates to be considered, saying, in part, that the position affects the city budget and deserved a competitive process. The mayor defended the single-interview approach as consistent with prior practice but acknowledged the council could change the process going forward.
After a brief procedural dispute over whether a motion to table had passed, the council ultimately voted to appoint Wortham as city attorney; Wortham accepted the role and thanked the council.
The council also reappointed Mike Patrick as chief of police and Terry Baker as fire chief after each nominee spoke briefly about their service and interest in continuing. Amra Packard was approved as city clerk, and the council retained Mid America Bank, Kansas State Bank and Baldwin State Bank as city depositories.
The mayor summarized the appointments for the public to confirm the roster of officials in place going forward.
The meeting closed after moving through committee appointments and scheduling a public community forum on utility rates.
