The city of Battle Ground’s four-year stint with an in-house attorney will come to an end after the council decided to remove the position from the 2023 budget by a split vote.
During its Dec. 5 meeting, the council voted 4-3 to remove the city attorney and a paralegal position, and allocated $125,000 to contract for legal services. The city has utilized contracted attorney services for much of this year. The councilors in favor of the move said it will save the city money by not having a full-time position.
The city contracted with Yakima-based firm Menke Jackson Beyer for about $36,000 through October for attorney services after former city attorney Christine Hayes was appointed as the Clark County Superior Court Commissioner in March.
The city’s preliminary budget for next year included about $321,000 for both a city attorney position and paralegal. City Manager Erin Erdman said the lower amount for contracted services was due to the fact that the city was trying not to spend as much while an in-house position sat vacant.
“We have held a lot of projects back because we’ve been contracting,” Erdman said. “We’ve been trying to save money.”
She said some public works projects that needed legal guidance have been postponed, as has attorney support for training within the Battle Ground Police Department.
BGPD Chief Mike Fort said training is only part of what the department needs from an attorney. Fort mentioned a need for legal oversight on recent policy changes the department has made.
“That’s my fear, is that we don’t have that ready access (to an attorney),” Fort said.
Having that access would reduce the risk of the policy changes running counter to state law, he said. He added timeliness is a factor in police matters, which isn’t always the case for other city departments.
“We need significant legal review yesterday, for today,” Fort said.
Having an in-house city attorney was a relatively new item on the city’s payroll through its 72-year history. Hayes was hired in 2017 under a previous city manager, councilor Shane Bowman said.
“When this came about, we had a city manager that really relied on an attorney, and all the questions had to go to that attorney,” Bowman said.
He said the city has done a good job using alternative resources during the time without an in-house attorney.
Before the council removed the position, Erdman said the city was set to begin looking for an attorney to fill the role at the start of 2023. It wouldn’t be the first time Battle Ground put out a call for applications. Erdman said earlier this year the city advertised for a combination city attorney and deputy city manager position, but the council asked for the interview process to be put on hold.
The city came back looking for applicants in July for just the attorney job, though that may have caused doubt among applicants.
“We got a lot of feedback that there wasn’t a lot of trust because we had changed (the position) a couple of times,” Erdman said.
Bowman, along with Mayor Philip Johnson as well as councilors Tricia Davis and Troy McCoy, voted to remove the positions and put the $125,000 toward contracting.
Deputy Mayor Cherish DesRochers, alongside councilors Adrian Cortes and Shauna Walters, voted against the shift.
City finance director Meagan Lowery said with current rates, the city would have to use contracted legal resources for more than 867 hours in a year to make an in-house attorney more cost-effective.
Bowman said if Battle Ground hits that mark, the council can revisit the issue.
“If we’re at 800 hours, then yeah, we need to look at something,” Bowman said. “Is that 800 hours because of (a specific thing) or is that normal?”
