Hello Mr. Olsen:  Our City Attorney works on retainer, and specifically asked that any Councilor, the Mayor, or City Administrator be allowed to contact her.  Her reasoning is that it is better to give advice rather than to try to fix a problem later.  She believes that ready access to legal counsel will help prevent problems.   This has worked fairly well for us.  Most questions still come to me first, but probably not all.   Take care and have a great day!!

From: Chad Olsen [mailto:chad@ci.st-helens.or.us]
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 1:42 PM
To: Oregon City/County Management Association
Subject: [occma] City Attorney Contacts

The City Council is reviewing a “rules and procedures” policy and a question came up concerning contacts initiated by Council to the contracted City Attorney.  The draft policy is:

Members of the Council requesting a legal opinion of the City Attorney may do so directly during a meeting or if the Mayor is aware of the inquiry.

I’m looking for city practices on this issue.

Chad