Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel Recruitment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Aspen to start internal recruitment for next city attorney; draft job description due Jan. 7
Summary
Council directed staff to begin an internal recruitment for the city attorney position after the outgoing attorney's Feb. 21, 2025 retirement; staff will prepare a job description and hiring range to return to council on Jan. 7 and said the internal posting must remain open at least seven days.
City staff told the Aspen City Council on Dec. 9 that James R. True has announced his retirement effective Feb. 21, 2025, and asked the council for direction on recruiting his successor.
"For the record, on December 3, James R. True announced his retirement from his current position effective 02/21/2025 following 17 years," Administrative Services Director Alyssa Farrell said. Staff presented three questions: whether to wait until after the March election and appoint an interim, whether recruitment should be internal-only or include external candidates, and what level of staff support the council wanted.
Mayor Tory said he favored starting the process immediately and installing a new city attorney to align with the outgoing attorney's contract date: "For me, I think that we should do the attorney process now, and we should actually have...the ability for that changeover, with a new city lead city attorney to be commensurate with Jim's contract date." Several council members likewise favored beginning with an internal posting, with the option to open externally if internal candidates are not satisfactory.
Staff advised the council that an internal posting must be open a minimum of seven days and offered to draft a job description and timeline. Staff said there are three current city employees who meet the charter's minimum qualifications (staff later noted that including Jim would make four potential internal candidates). Council asked staff to return a draft job description and proposed hiring range at the Jan. 7 council meeting.
The council did not take a formal vote on hiring method but gave staff direction to proceed with an internal recruitment, prepare the job materials, and report back in January.
Clarifying details: the retirement date for the incumbent was given as Feb. 21, 2025, and staff emphasized that internal candidates must meet charter requirements; staff also offered to provide a hiring range when the draft job description is returned to council.
