City Attorney

As This position is the legal advisor of the city and provides legal services to the City Commission and to internal city departments pursuant to Bismarck City Ordinances 2.04-05, 2-04-10, 7-03-13, 7-04-02 and 3 and ND Century Code 40-20-01 and 2.

Examples of Duties

• Advises the City Commission on a variety of legal matters; works with commissioners to achieve goals and respond to issues or problems.
• Advises department directors on a variety of legal matters, including contracting, procurement, daily operations and other matters; answers questions related to ordinances, statutes, rules and regulations.
• Defends the city in lawsuits or works with assigned insurance company legal counsel to coordinate the city's defense; supervises the processing of all claims brought against the city and provides claims analysis for those claims.
• Interprets ordinances and regulations for citizens or businesses; assists departments to resolve conflicts with customer or users; assists human resources staff in advising departments on personnel issues.
• As the Chief Risk Officer, is responsible for overall risk management for the city for any potential risks or claims.
• As the Chief Ethics Officer, is responsible for ensuring all city business is performed in an ethical manner and oversees ethics, violations and follow-up.
• Works with departments to draft legal documents, including contracts, RFPs, ordinance amendments, policies or correspondence; reviews all contracts, grants or other document; provides guidance regarding open records requests.
• Provides real estate expertise and services to all departments, including drafting deeds, easements and purchase agreements; acts as the city's representative for the Northern Plains Commerce Center, including leading development issues, infrastructure improvements, sales and tenant services.
• Provides staffing and legal advice to the Vision Fund Committee, Animal Advisory Board, Board of Adjustment, Civil Service Commission, Historic Preservation Commission, the City Planning and Zoning Commission and the Renaissance Zone Authority.
• Oversight and supervision of prosecution for municipal court.
• Provides oversight and supervision for department staff.
• Performs related duties.

Minimum Qualifications

• Graduation from an accredited school of law.
• Experience sufficient to thoroughly understand the diverse objectives and functions of the subunits in the division/department in order to direct and coordinate work within the division/department, usually interpreted to require five years of related experience.
• Current membership in the State Bar of North Dakota.