In a letter to other City Council members and City Administrator Brent Trout, Councilman Don Nelson asked Trout to look at cities of similar size in Iowa to determine how they handle the position of city attorney.
Nelson wants Trout to look at 8-10 cities of Mason City’s general size and obtain information on whether the position in those cities is full or part-time.
He also wants to know how much part-time city attorneys charge “each city government for services, monthly, hourly?” He asked Trout to obtain the financial costs from each city to determine how much they spend on that employee.
“I believe this information will be helpful in future discussions among the City Council on what direction we should go forward” on determining the future of that position in Mason City.
Nelson says a council work session is needed to discuss the city attorney position and how it relates to the human resources position, which out-going city attorney Tom Meyer was handling simultaneously.
Some on the council believe the two jobs should not be inter-twined. It had been mentioned that it could be a conflict of interest if a city employee had to go to the city attorney / human resources person for help on an issue, especially if that issue ended up in court and the city attorney represented the city in that litigation.
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