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Council weighs splitting municipal prosecution as it drafts city attorney RFP
Summary
During public comment and discussion April 8, local attorney Kelly Crombie urged Columbus to allow separate firms for municipal prosecution in the upcoming city attorney RFP; councilors and staff agreed to add language and return the RFP for adoption on April 21.
Columbus councilors and staff discussed changes to an RFP for municipal attorney services on April 8 after remarks from a local practitioner who urged the city to consider separating prosecution from general counsel work.
"When a speeding ticket is, I think, $98.50 about, the cost of prosecuting that ticket gets high fast," said Kelly Crombie of Crombie Law Office, urging the city to allow smaller or local firms to handle municipal prosecution to reduce costs. Crombie said large firms are less likely to pursue low-dollar municipal citations because the legal cost can exceed the fine.
Council members and the city administrator discussed draft language to keep options open: allow a single attorney to be hired as a city employee, permit proposals that split prosecution from municipal-counsel work or allow two-firm arrangements. Alderman Meyer said he supported editing the RFP to permit two separate firms so the city could engage larger firms for general counsel tasks and local counsel for municipal prosecutions.
Staff committed to add language as directed by council and bring the RFP back to the April 21 council packet for final review before issuance.
