Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Who does the City Council's attorney report to?

The city attorney says ultimately to him. The council says otherwise.

By JANET ZINK
Published April 22, 2007

TAMPA - Three years ago, in a discussion marked by talk of checks and balances and independence, the Tampa City Council decided it needed a lawyer all its own.

Getting its legal advice from the city attorney and his staff - who report to the mayor - wasn't good enough. What if the advice was tailored to fit the mayor's agenda?

It selected Martin Shelby, a former Largo city commissioner. The council pays him $86,000 a year for the part-time job.

But after all that, is the City Council's independent attorney really independent?

Shelby thinks so.

"I was interviewed and selected by the Tampa City Council," he said. "I believe I was hired to be an advocate for the City Council."

City Attorney David Smith sees it differently.

"There may be a misimpression in the minds of some that he's supposed to be an advocate for them," Smith said. "But he is no more so than me."

Bottom line: Shelby is an assistant city attorney who ultimately answers to him, though he's assigned to give legal advice to the council, Smith said.

"But I try to provide him as much autonomy as possible," Smith said.

The debate over to whom Shelby actually answers started last month, when City Council member Linda Saul-Sena indicated she would like the council to weigh in on how much freshwater should flow into the lower Hillsborough River.

The city is negotiating the issue with the water management district. Smith says river flow is an administrative matter and the council has no say in it.

"City Council was trying to have an opinion that was independent from the administration's, and the administration's attorney was telling us we aren't allowed to," Saul-Sena said.

Smith offered to review the city charter to determine whether it allowed the council to have such input on policymaking, and agreed to accept thoughts from Shelby.

But in the end, interpretation of the charter, Smith said, stops with the city attorney. He also says that although the charter gives the council authority to appoint and fire an attorney, Shelby is still part of Smith's office.

The council pays Shelby's salary from its budget, just as the police department pays for an attorney who is also considered part of Smith's office, said city budget director Jim Stefan.

Smith said as city attorney he represents both the council and the administration, and can balance those roles by always giving both bodies objective advice.

But some council members wonder whether that's possible.

"The city attorney is hired by the mayor," said council member Tom Scott. "She hired him, and she can fire him."

So if there is a discrepancy between the council and the mayor, Scott wonders, "Who is he going to represent?"

Scott said the debate is similar to one the Hillsborough County Commission faced when he was a member. The commission had an attorney, but that person reported to the county administrator until voters approved a charter amendment that shifted those reporting duties directly to the commission.

"City Council needs someone they can talk to and whom they can trust and get independent opinions," he said.

Council member John Dingfelder agrees.

"In my opinion the City Council attorney should be completely independent and not answer to anyone but the City Council," he said. He said a future amendment to the city charter should clarify things.

Jan Platt was on the council more than 30 years ago when the City Council attorney job was created.

The intent, she said, was for the council's attorney to be accountable to them, not the city attorney.

Although the city attorney is responsible for any official legal position of the city, she said, it's essential for the council to have independent legal advice to balance the power of the executive branch in a strong-mayor form of government.

Such advice, she said, allows the council to play "devil's advocate instead of being a rubber stamp, which they've become in recent years."

Over the years, the City Council hasn't always taken advantage of the opportunity to appoint its own attorney, but had one assigned by the city attorney.

Council member Charlie Miranda, who has served on the board during two previous administrations, said it works fine either way.

"I didn't see them pulling more for the council or the administration," he said. "I was elected to try to solve problems. If it's a problem I'll address it. I don't see a problem right now."

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or 813 226-3401.

[Last modified April 22, 2007, 00:29:32]