Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the City Attorney Pay topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident criticizes city attorney raise, questions use of outside counsel
Summary
A Coldwater resident sharply criticized the council for approving a raise for the city attorney while the city paid outside counsel for litigation, asking why the attorney did not handle a cited civil case. The council did not respond directly to the claim during public comment.
Crystal, a resident of Clay Street, used the meeting's public-comment period to challenge the council's decision to give the city attorney a pay increase while the city paid outside attorneys for recent litigation. "By the title alone, it seems like the city attorney should be equipped to handle," she told the council, saying it "was a huge slap in the face" to taxpayers who already paid outside counsel.
Crystal said the city paid outside counsel to handle what she described as a civil lawsuit and asked how that expense made sense if the city's attorney was expected to represent the city in civil matters. She urged council members to consider the optics and financial impact of awarding a raise while incurring outside legal fees. The council did not provide a substantive response during the public-comment slot; the item remained an audience-voiced concern rather than a formal agenda item.
