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Committee recommends raising legal services rate to $175 an hour
Summary
The Finance and Taxation Committee voted to recommend that the Common Council adopt a resolution increasing the city's outside legal services rate from $155 (set in 2020) to $175 per hour; the committee recorded a unanimous vote to forward the resolution.
The Finance and Taxation Committee voted to recommend that the Common Council adopt a resolution raising the hourly compensation for outside legal services from $155 to $175.
Rindy, the city administrator, told the committee that the last time the city updated those rates was in 2020 and that comparables for municipal clients range from $175 to $315 per hour. "The last time that we updated and evaluated rates for legal services was back in 2020, and those rates are at 155 per hour," she said, noting she proposed $175 per hour for attorney work and a modest increase for associate and paralegal billing rates (specific paralegal amounts were not provided in the committee packet).
A committee member asked whether the city's contract attorney had been consulted; Rindy said she had asked him and that he indicated he would be "happy with that rate." The attorney did not speak directly on the committee record; the transcript presents multiple renderings of the attorney's name, so the committee record does not provide a single authoritative spelling.
The committee then voted. Chair called for the roll and recorded affirmative votes from Alder Truhart, Alder Knoll and Alder Toman. The motion to recommend the resolution to the Common Council passed unanimously in the committee.
The recommendation now goes to the Common Council for consideration; the resolution itself would be formally read and acted on at council per normal procedure.
