St. Clair’s board of aldermen tweaked the contract with City Attorney Kurt Voss and added a stipulation that he now start attending planning and zoning board meetings every month in addition to his other responsibilities.
The board originally agreed to a contract during its Jan. 7 meeting, but reapproved it the next time it met on Jan. 21.
Under the arrangement, Voss will continue to attend aldermen meetings, serve as city prosecutor and attend all regularly scheduled municipal court sessions and now also will attend the planning board meetings once a month.
In compensation, the city will pay him $1,500 per month, increased from last year’s $1,250 rate. In addition, he will be paid $150 per hour for any additional legal work.
Earlier in January, when the board first approved the extension for his services, the monthly fee was $1,700.
“We were in error last time,” City Administrator Rick Childers said. “I would like to present this for reapproval.”
“The amount is actually going down,” Voss said.
Voss has been St. Clair’s city attorney since 1995. He attended his first planning and zoning meeting on Jan. 14.
Other Business
In other business from Jan. 21, the aldermen approved an ordinance amending the city code regarding the collection of recoupment fees on alcohol- and drug-related charges.
According to the ordinance, the city has a provision for the reimbursement of the costs for alcohol- and drug-related cases as allowed by state statute. The prior ordinance contained a limit of reimbursement costs, while updated state statute does not place any limits.
The adopted ordinance states that the city is incurring costs in excess of the limit determined through the original ordinance, so new language states that “the court shall impose this additional recoupment fee for each offense, plus all other additional court costs” and that all ordinances in conflict are repealed.
Also, Childers reminded the aldermen that the deadline for city businesses to obtain their 2013 operating license is Feb. 1, and that the board will be provided with a list of delinquent businesses on Feb. 4 possibly to be forwarded to Voss to take legal action.
In addition, the city gave its support for the annual St. Clair Area Chamber of Commerce’s Easter Festival and parade for March 23.
Finally, as part of the consent agenda, the aldermen approved the 2012 annual financial statement. It showed that last year, revenue totaled $6.310 million while expenses came in at $5.742 million. It also stated the city has $3.676 million in cash assets and $3.671 million in bonded debt.
