While watching the Charter Revision Meeting tonight, I started pondering ideas. It all started when councilor Mrs. Outdahdoorliar suggested that the council have a say in who is hired/fired for the city attorney position. While I like her idea, and understand her concerns (the city attorney having a ‘boss’ to report to) I question if there is a ‘better process’ because who does the city attorney really work for? The council? The mayor? or the citizens?
When Stehly and I were trying to get an opinion from the past city attorney Admundson, he refused, telling us to hire our own. While I partially agree with that statement, the question we are asking could only be answered by him, and the reason he wouldn’t answer it? Because he knew the answer was in our favor (as we found out later). The point is that the city attorney should be looking out for the general best interest of the citizenry, that means, ultimately not having a city council OR a mayor as their manager, but the citizens.
My suggestion would be to elect the city attorney every 4 years, just like attorney generals, judges and sheriffs. If the public wants an honest city attorney working for THEM, they need to be elected by them.