AGENDA #4k

MEMORANDUM

TO:	Mayor and Town Council
FROM:	Ralph Karpinos, Town Attorney
SUBJECT:	Authorization to Designate an Acting Town Attorney
DATE:	June 9, 2008

PURPOSE

The attached resolution would authorize a performance agreement for an acting town attorney to provide needed legal services during the absence of the Town Attorney.

BACKGROUND

North Carolina General Statute Sec. 160A-149 authorizes the Town Manager to designate, subject to the approval of the Council, a person to perform the duties of the manager during the Manager’s temporary absence.

North Carolina General Statute Sec. 160A-156 authorizes any department head to likewise designate an acting department head. 

A separate section of the General Statutes, Sec. 160A-173, provides for the appointment by the Council of the city attorney.  No specific provision for an acting city attorney is provided for in the General Statutes.  

The Town’s Charter, Sec. 4.5, provides that the Council shall appoint a town attorney and may appoint a deputy town attorney, who shall have full authority to exercise and perform any of the powers and duties of the town attorney as may be specified by the council, and such assistant town attorneys as it deems necessary from time to time with such duties and responsibilities as council may prescribe, or as required by law.  Thus, in neither the General Statutes nor the Charter is there a specific provision that provides direction on how to designate an acting attorney when, as is the case here, there is not someone on staff in the Town Attorney’s office to serve in that capacity.

DISCUSSION

I believe that it would be prudent to establish a formal arrangement with an attorney in private practice who could be available to provide legal counsel in the event I am absent from Town or otherwise temporarily unavailable.  If the attached resolution is approved, I would intend to negotiate a performance agreement for such services with our current Bond Counsel, Robert Jessup, a partner with the Sanford Holshouser Law Firm.  I anticipate that the amount currently budgeted for this department for outside professional services will be sufficient to fund this performance agreement.

RECOMMENDATION

I recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution to authorize the Town Attorney to negotiate and enter into a performance agreement with an attorney in private practice who could be available during my absences from Town to provide legal counsel as needed, to review and approve contracts, and to take any other short term actions that may be necessary to protect the Town’s legal interests.