Council interviews three City Attorney candidates, praises depth of applicants

The Sun Valley City Council conducted interviews May 31 with three candidates or teams for the City Attorney position as part of a special meeting that ran from 3:00 p.m. to the late afternoon.

Frederick Allington summarized municipal experience including serving as acting City Attorney for Bellevue and work as Sun Valley’s Interim City Attorney. He stressed local experience and connections, saying, "I have a lot of generalist legal experience and connections and relationships in the Valley." Council members asked whether prior work had required outside counsel (Allington said he had, for a bond) and whether his community relationships would create conflicts; he said he did not foresee a conflict unless Sun Valley and Bellevue were opposing parties. Council President Keith Saks said he "had been impressed with the work done by Allington as the Interim City Attorney."

Maria Hart introduced a Parsons Behle & Latimer team including Jamie Ellsworth and Richard Mrazik and urged the Council to "consider hiring a team with a diverse depth of experience." Hart said the firm would be a "one stop shop" and that they "won’t bill the City to learn about an issue." The Council asked about main points of contact, travel billing, the Boise office size and experience with public-entity health benefits and PERSI; Hart and colleagues described partner-level specialists in employment and health‑law and said mentor/advisor time would generally not be billed.

Matthew Johnson and Bill Gigray of White Peterson Gigray & Nichols described a municipal practice that uses a retainer, with specialized matters (for example, bond counsel) handled outside the retainer. Johnson told the Council it is not an attorney’s role to make political decisions but "rather advise the City on what it can do under the law," and said public records requests should be handled case by case with a preference toward transparency. Council members pressed on hours and cost containment; Johnson said the firm took some risk up front on the retainer with an expectation that preventive legal services would reduce longer-term costs.

Council members spoke positively about the applicant pool; Council Member Brad DuFur said the City "was fortunate to have high-caliber applicants." The Council agreed to continue hiring logistics at its regular June 2 meeting.