Our city attorney has been under fire lately from some members of city council. It seems that the city attorney has been negotiating deals with some developers and has been seen as an impediment to progress. I guess that this judgment is a matter of opinion depending on which side of the table you are sitting on.
Many organizations do not use their attorneys to negotiate deals. Instead they ask the attorneys to see to it that the necessary documents reflect the specifics of the deal and that the deal is both binding and legal.
I happened upon some information on the city attorney’s web site. It is a list of services that the department performs for the city.
Negotiating is not on the list. Read their list below:
Advise City officials and departments on a wide range of legal issues
Research and provide advice, opinions and recommendations on legal issues that come before the City.
- Draft municipal ordinances, resolutions, and agreements.
- Provide advice to City boards, committees, commissions, and City Council Legislative Review Committees.
- Advise Mayor, City Council, City Manager and other City officials of pending legislation and assist in drafting proposals for legislation in areas of concern to the City of El Paso.
- Provide legal advice on state and federal grants.
- Process claims on behalf of the City and against the City.
Functions of City Council:
- Judicial hearings
- Provide legal representation
- Municipal Court
- Represents the City in civil lawsuit
- Prosecutes violations of City of El Paso ordinances and Class C misdemeanors
- Handles property disposition hearings
- Administrative hearings
- Represents the City at Civil Service Commission disciplinary hearings and arbitrations
- Assists City Departments with discipline issues
- Responds to EEOC complaints
- Receives and processes complaints filed under the City Ethics Ordinance
- Represents the City at hearings before various state agencies
Acts as a liaison with other
governmental entities.
Should the city manager and his departments be handling these negotiations?
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
You’re saying should the city manager’s office should have negotiated the land deals in question? Probably in the future. I think the specific land deals that lead to the discussion by Council probably began before the current CM was in place – when Ms. Wilson was in the process of leaving. Possibly the land deals got tossed to the City Attorney for lack of anyone else to handle them. But it’s a good question you ask.
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Why isn’t lying at public meeting on the list. When I went to the public meeting on the halfway house/homeless ordinance that was being proposed there were two attorneys present and when I asked “when will this ordinance come before city council?” they looked at each other and the one that was presenting stated, “it will be up in about 60 days.” It came up on the very next city council meeting about a week later.
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I have other examples but for now will only suggest a title change to this article: Creep City Attorney Job.
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Niland’s gripe–and Noe’s–was that the city attorney was negotiating land deals. It clearly started with engineering and the city attorney mishandling the pebble hills connection. The city attorney made outrageous demands and wouldn’t allow staff to meet with the developer–because the city attorney knew all. Niland and Noe made it public and they were all humiliated.
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How about the Mr. Ruben asking for tax breaks to finalize the deal without specifying what the land would be used for? My recollection is that Niland’s problem was that the negotiations were stalled. And how did Niland get that information? Niland was the one humiliated that day.
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It is the CM’s responsibility to negotiate such deals. That’s what Wilson did for us. She negotiated our money to her friends at the Times, and the PDN Group.
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