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Elected city attorney may become appointed

Officials concerned nobody will run in 2020

By Scott Bellile


New London residents may never elect another city attorney.

The New London Finance and Personnel Committee discussed changing the city attorney position from elected to appointed during a Dec. 5 meeting.

No action was taken, and the topic will be revisited at a future meeting.

City Administrator Kent Hager told the finance and personnel committee that longtime City Attorney Earl Luaders plans to retire in the coming years.

The problem, Hager said, is under current city ordinance, Luaders’s elected successor would need to live within New London city limits.

“We’re not really sure if there are any [attorneys living in New London],” Hager said. “If there are, maybe they’re not interested in running, and maybe the electorate’s not interested in electing [them].”

Most Wisconsin municipalities utilize hired attorneys, according to New London Mayor Gary Henke.

“As of 2013, there were 19 out of 400-and-some cities that have elected city attorneys,” Henke said. “So we are definitely in the minority.”

When election time rolls around, the city attorney position fails to attract takers besides Luaders. Luaders was first elected attorney in 1982 and has never faced a challenger, according to City Clerk Jackie Beyer.

Two other roles within the city were previously elected but are now appointed by the city council: clerk and treasurer. Beyer is clerk while the treasurer’s duties are now assigned to the city’s finance director, which is currently Judy Radke.

The process of appointing is much like the hiring process at a business, with applications, interviews and ultimately city council approval.

Henke said by appointing someone to a position versus electing them, the city can attract a greater number of experienced candidates from outside New London.

Luaders’s term expires in April 2020. Henke said he thinks Luaders would need to serve the remainder of his term before the city council could change the city attorney position to appointed.

“But I think we need to start planning what are we going to do, have it set so that when that term is up, we can then move in whichever direction we want to,” Henke said.

City attorney is not a full-time position. Luaders runs a private firm in New London, Luaders Law Office, and only provides counsel to the city as needed.

The city attorney’s annual salary is $20,000 per year, according to Beyer.

That is regardless of how often Luaders counsels the city or represents it in legal matters, Radke said.

“I pretty much guarantee that what we’re paying Earl is nowhere near what other municipalities are paying their attorneys,” Hager said. “And we purposely try to do a lot of upfront work ourselves for this and that.”

For example, city officials use other municipalities’ documents as templates for crafting their own to minimize the time Luaders spends writing, Hager said.

Hager expressed doubt New London could find another attorney to work for a salary as low as Luaders’s.

First District Alderman John Faucher said he would be concerned if the city attorney’s annual salary spiked to $49,000, for example.

Henke said that might have to happen in order to attract talent to the position.

New London does not rely solely on its city attorney for legal representation. Hager said the city utilized outside attorneys in two recent disputes involving Canadian National Railroad and Eric Spirtas, the developer who used to own the blighted former Simmons property.

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