Politics & Government

University City Hires New City Attorney, Prosecutor

On Monday the City Council approved contracts to hire a new city attorney and city prosecutor.

The City Council on Monday night approved the contracts for a new City Attorney and City Prosecutor for University City.

Councilmember Terry Crow (Ward 1) voted against both new hires. Prior to the vote, he grilled City Manager Lehman Walker about the decision to . Walker reminded the council that the city attorney and prosecutor position are not staff positions. He said in the past there have been no written agreement for those services -- .

, University City paid outside law firms over $230,000 in fiscal year 2010, including $43,000 for City Attorney services, but never conducted an analysis to determine whether outsourcing legal services made financial sense.

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Walker said in the past, city managers have simply hired whoever they want for legal services without bringing the issue to the council.

"I'm trying to do the proper thing and bring it to council and make sure that there is a written legal agreement in accordance with the state audit," Walker said.

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Crow praised the work Mulligan did for U City as its city attorney, and said he hoped the new city attorney would have a similar track record. Crow said Mulligan is responsible for bringing into U City's coffers nearly 9 million dollars from the telephone tax lawsuit he helped put together. "No one is more responsible for our cash reserves than our current city attorney," Crow said.

The new City Attorney for University City is Paul Martin. His contract started on Tuesday, November 15th. Martin currently serves as special counsel to U City. He is currently the City Attorney for several municipalities in the St. Louis region; such as Olivette, Ellisville, Rock Hill, St. George and Crystal Lake Park. He started his own firm in 2008. According to the service agreement, the City will pay Martin's firm at a rate of $150.00 per hour for attendance at regular meetings of the City Council and for all general contacts with city officials (telephone, e-mail or letter) and $175.00 per hour for all other work

On Monday, the council also approved a $30,000 contract to retain the firm of Crotzer and Ormsby to provide City Prosecutor services for U City. Crow voted against the resolution. Mulligan had also been functioning as the prosecutor for U City.

Crow voiced concern that the person slated to be tasked with the prosecutorial services -- Amy J. White -- lacked experience.

"The primary attorney for U City's prosecutor graduated from law school three years ago. Is that correct?," asked Crow. "That's correct," said Walker, adding, "she'll be working with the senior attorney in the firm."

"The resume that I have in my packet shows that our primary contact has no prosecutorial experience at all," said Crow. "That's correct," responded Walker.

"How are they the best bang for our buck when we are going to be removing someone with 25 years of prosecutorial experience and replacing them with -- our primary contact having less than three years of legal experience and prosecutorial experience," asked Crow. "That strikes me as odd."

Councilmember Stephen Kraft (Ward 1) asked Walker to describe the type of crimes the city prosecutor would be dealing with. "Are we dealing with First Amendment Supreme Court cases that have to be taken to the Federal Courts? Are we dealing with complicated investigations? Or are they perhaps more routine offenses?" inquired Kraft.

Walker said the prosecutor would be dealing primarily with housing violations and traffic issues. He said more serious crimes are sent to St. Louis County for prosecution.


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