Your approach is similar to what I practiced. As a city attorney I represented the municipal entity that operated through its elected officials. In some cases a strong mayor exercised complete control over requests for legal assistance but most of the time the work operated informally. If a councilmember sought assistance from me I would provide it because it generally aided in the administration of the municipality's business (understanding a law, explaining process, etc.). When work grew too complex and time consuming, I advised the councilmember that they should circle back to the council and discuss a more formal request. Sometimes that was just a conversation between the councilmember and the mayor, chair, etc. but with especially contentious councils we might need to meet and discuss a process. The council's bylaws sometimes laid out who can request council - often at the request of the mayor or a majority of the council. This would sometimes crop up during the council meeting when a member looked to me for legal advice and other members objected. Othertimes my work was directed by the city manager who received direction from the mayor or the council and I relied on the manager to set my priorities. That can sometimes be a helpful go between. In cities where I was outside counsel, the legal budget was something that the manager wanted to keep tabs on but even when I was in house it was important to keep tabs on how many hours were being spent on different matters so I could report that back to the mayor and manager. My contract with the city might also provide guidance on how my work was to be allocated. I would say as a general rule I never needed a policy unless the council became highly politicized and then we needed to set things down in writing. The policy was not generally contentious, however, but the relationships between members could be frigid as we have all experienced. In most cases the issues were most likely to flair up when we were all on the dais as opposed to off. David David Warner Office of the General Counsel|Principal Counsel Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission 1616 McCormick Drive, Suite 3133 Largo, Maryland 20774 202.603.9466 david.warner@mncppc.org<mailto:david.warner@mncppc.org> From: Pinita Maberry via Cityattorneys <cityattorneys@lists.imla.org> Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2024 5:17 PM To: Ravinder Arneja <rarneja@imla.org>; cityattorneys@lists.imla.org; counties@lists.imla.org Subject: [Cityattorneys] Re: Responding to request for research from council members [EXTERNAL EMAIL] Exercise caution when opening attachments, clicking links, or responding. Hello, I would also like to know how other attorneys handle this issue. In my city, council members are elected and generally only meet twice a month. Council is required to act as a group through consensus or majority vote rather than individually in requesting research or work product from staff, including the City Attorney. It can be a hard line to draw, especially when a city attorney would like all members of council to be educated on issues, particularly because they spend such limited time on city matters. My city has no formal policy on the issue, but I generally will provide limited research to individual councilors when it takes me less than an hour or two to complete. For anything that takes me over that threshold, I politely advise the councilor that additional research or review on the matter should be requested by the entire body and will sometimes point them in the direction of additional resources to continue review on their own. I also try to educate councilors on the option to also table matters if more information is needed for an informed decision, which can sometimes lead to the group requesting the city attorney that additional research be conducted for the various perspectives. If someone has figured out a way to handle this issue tactfully, I would like to know, too! Kind regards, Pinita Maberry-Nave CITY & PROSECUTING ATTORNEY Rawlins City Attorney's Office PO Box 953 521 West Cedar Street Rawlins, WY 82301 Tel: (307) 328-4515 [cid:image001.png@01DB3CBD.9EABDB30] From: Ravinder Arneja via Cityattorneys <cityattorneys@lists.imla.org<mailto:cityattorneys@lists.imla.org>> Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2024 2:51 PM To: cityattorneys@lists.imla.org<mailto:cityattorneys@lists.imla.org>; counties@lists.imla.org<mailto:counties@lists.imla.org> Subject: [Cityattorneys] Responding to request for research from council members This email originated from outside the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. ________________________________ Hello, everyone, A member would like to know if and how other municipalities process/screen/respond to a request for research or the drafting of an ordinance or policy from a lone council person. Does your local government have a threshold that must be met in order to reduce the time staff spends researching and drafting issues the majority of the council has no interest in pursuing? If you have any information on this, please send them to me at rarneja@imla.org<mailto:rarneja@imla.org> and I will pass it along. [logo]<https://imla.org/> [facebook icon]<https://www.facebook.com/InternationalMunicipalLawyersAssociation/>[twitter icon]<https://twitter.com/imlalegal>[linkedin icon]<https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-municipal-lawyers-association-inc./> Ravinder Arneja (he/him) Associate Counsel International Municipal Lawyers Association P: (202) 466-5424 x7114 D: (202) 742-1914 51 Monroe St. Suite 404 Rockville, MD, 20850 Plan Ahead! See IMLA's upcoming events<https://imla.org/events/>, calls and programming.