ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Serve as the chief legal consultant and advisor to the City Council, City Manager, boards and commissions, city departments, and City Staff in their official capacity, including, but not limited to, providing legal advice and legal counsel, and providing legal representation in litigations and legal proceedings.
• Provide legal counsel, directly or indirectly through staff, which includes researching federal, State, and local laws and regulations, and issuing legal opinions to the elected and appointed officials of the City and to various City boards and commissions.
• Attend all City Council and committee meetings as appropriate and required by charter to provide legal guidance to elected officials in carrying out their responsibilities within the law.
• Draft legal documents on behalf of the City, including ordinances, resolutions, minute orders, code provisions, contracts, council materials, and a variety of other legal instruments for legislative enactments, including but not limited to deeds, releases, and other instruments binding the City with regard to real property.
• Negotiate and/or review contracts and other legal documents involving the City of Weatherford, and approve all City legal documents prior to execution by the Mayor or other approving authority.
• Prosecute violations in Municipal Court and the preparation and submission of cases to Building and Standards Commission.

Meetings: Ensure compliance with Open Meetings law and attend the following meetings:

• City Council (regular, special, work sessions, retreats)
• Utility Board
• Planning and Zoning
• Weekly Incident Review
• Weekly Management Staff
• Weatherford Economic Development Board
• Building and Standards Commission
• Zoning Board of Adjustment
• Other meetings as called upon

Meetings currently average 10-12 hours per month, however, that time can vary significantly depending upon the agendas for each meeting.

Document Review: Review contracts for city departments as requested. Currently, the bulk of this contract review pertains to utilities construction, developer agreements, construction documents for transportation department projects, capital improvement projects, agreements and contracts for the library, and other departments on request. In particular, this office reviews insurance and bonding documents for compliance with contract requirements, state law, and internal requirements.

Other regular document review is associated with the City’s Master Plan documents and impact fee documents and ordinances.

Estimated average time monthly for document review varies but generally 6 to 8 hours.

Document Drafting: Draft contracts for purchase and sale of real estate, and, as requested, Interlocal Agreements and ordinances. Drafting of other contracts and agreements is provided, as requested. Drafting assistance notice is also provided, on request, to departments for the drafting of legally required notice documents and/or other notices required by local ordinance.

Legal research: Conduct legal research as required for drafting documents and ordinances and in response to other inquiries. Currently, the City absorbs a subscription cost for the Thomson-Reuters Westlaw to provide ready access to cases, statutes, and other necessary resources.

Litigation: Review litigation matters handled by outside counsel; communicate and coordinate with outside counsel on those matters; handle other litigation matters not assigned to outside counsel. Travel to and attend mediations concerning ongoing litigation. Other travel as required.

Client Communications: Review City policies, procedures, and ordinance requirements with City Staff. Be available to receive and return telephone calls and emails from City Staff, Council Members, and Utility Board Members. Be available to citizens to provide information or to assist in resolving problems or other issues.

Municipal Court: Attend pro se pre-trial dockets; prepare plea recommendations and attend attorney pre-trial dockets; review case files for dispositions; respond to discovery requests as required for Municipal Court cases; prepare pleadings and orders and prosecute dangerous dog proceedings in Municipal Court; draft requested complaint language; appear for and prosecute bench and jury trials on cases; be available to Court Staff for questions. Municipal Court has indicated that it may be requesting appearance and participation by the City Attorney at its juvenile pre-trial dockets in light of the increased number of those cases and the number of Municipal Court juvenile cases now implicating higher level charges for the juveniles.

Building and Standards Commission: As the Commission is a quasi-judicial body, the City Attorney’s Office works in coordination with the City Code Officers in the preparation and submission of cases to the Commission. City Attorney responsibilities currently include: assistance to the City Code Officers in accurate determination of property ownership and lienholders required to be notified; availability by phone to review status of cases and procedures; preparation of Applications for Order of Repair or Demolition for filing with the Commission; review of required notices to property owners and lienholders; attendance at meetings of the Building and Standards Commission; (if requested) assistance to the City Code Officers in preparation of evidence and records to be submitted to the Commission; preparation of proposed Orders of Repair or Demolition; review of post-order required notices and procedures. The Building and Standards Commission meets monthly (or, at called meetings as may be required). Depending upon the number of cases scheduled on the Commission agenda, attorney time will vary for consultation, document preparation, and attendance at the Commission meetings.

Public Information Requests: Be available to public information officers to discuss responses and procedures for requests; for all requests assigned to the City Attorney’s Office – review the requests; request clarification and/or additional identification as appropriate; consider applicable law and exceptions to disclosure; draft requests for Attorney General rulings as required and prepare document packages for the Attorney General and requestor; review Attorney General rulings and provide information to requestors in accord with the AG rulings. The average number of public information requests being assigned to the City Attorney’s Office has increased significantly in 2021-2022 to date. Our estimate of the current average number of those requests assigned to the City Attorney’s Office weekly is 5-7 per week.

Administration

Open

The salary for this position is dependent on qualifications and experience.

July 27, 2022 4:30 PM

Open Until Filled