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Iowa council adopts ordinance setting municipal attorney retainer and billing rules
Summary
The Town of Iowa on Aug. 25 adopted Ordinance 2025-04 to set the municipal attorney retainer at $1,500 per month (plus $200 for Mayor’s Court duties), permit $275/hour for extraordinary work, allow use of Stutes & Lavergne attorneys at approved rates, and raise retainers in 2027. The vote was unanimous.
The Town of Iowa council unanimously adopted Ordinance 2025-04 on Aug. 25, 2025, setting the retainer and billing terms for the municipal attorney.
Mayor Douglas N. Watkins read the ordinance during a public hearing that opened at 7:00 p.m. and closed after no public comments were offered. The ordinance sets the municipal attorney’s retainer at $1,500 per month for ordinary municipal affairs and $200 per month for duties as prosecutor for the Town of Iowa Mayor’s Court. It allows the municipal attorney to bill for "extraordinary work" at the Attorney General’s approved hourly rate of $275.00 per hour and to assign such work to attorneys or staff at Stutes & Lavergne, LLC provided their rates do not exceed the Attorney General’s approved rate.
The ordinance also provides for reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred on behalf of the town, including postage, filing fees, and printing. It specifies that beginning Jan. 1, 2027, the retainer will increase to $2,000 per month for ordinary municipal affairs and $500 per month for mayor’s court duties, and that the hourly rate for extraordinary work will be the Attorney General’s approved rate in effect on Jan. 1, 2027, or $275 per hour, whichever is greater. The ordinance becomes effective Sept. 1, 2025.
Council Member Daniel Hennigan moved to adopt Ordinance 2025-04; the motion was seconded by Council Member Vernessa Guillory and passed unanimously. The formal roll call recorded YEAS from Hennigan, Guillory, Julie Fontenot, Gerald Guidry and Joe Becnel; there were no NAYS or abstentions. Town Clerk Cynthia Mallett subsequently certified the ordinance and the mayor approved it on Aug. 26, 2025.
The ordinance is procedural and financial in scope: it establishes fixed monthly retainers and a framework for hourly billing and expense reimbursement rather than creating new legal responsibilities or programs. The council did not hear substantive public comment on the measure during the public hearing.
