Libby city attorney has much larger workload

Charles Evans and I are the attorneys who have most recently had the honor of serving as both the Libby city attorney and the Troy city attorney. That puts us in a unique position to comment on the recent newspaper article comparing the two positions.   

While there was a period in the past when we went beyond what was required of us as the Troy city attorney and put in many unpaid hours to help advance the city’s interests, with the current administrations and police departments of Libby and Troy, the time and effort required for the city attorney positions for Libby and Troy are very different.    

For the City of Troy, the most omnibus and/or pretrial hearings in one month during my tenure was five, and there would be months with no omnibus or pretrial hearings. Discovery for the criminal offenses would take only approximately five hours per month. I may have had five hearings during the two years I was the city attorney for Troy. For the City of Libby, I averaged between 30 and 35 omnibus hearings each month and 20 to 25 pretrial hearings each month with discovery taking approximately 20 hours per week. I had five bench trials and/or hearings in one day for the City of Libby. Generally, the criminal prosecution duties for the Troy city attorney would take about 10 hours per month, while the same duties for the Libby city attorney would take from 160 to 200 hours per month. The different salaries for those positions should reflect that different work load.

As far as the civil side, Mayor Brown of Troy would consult me more, so I would estimate that I would spend 10 hours per month for the City of Troy. I did very little civil work for the City of Libby — and there was definitely a need — because the criminal cases demanded all my attention. I had to eliminate most of my private work when I was employed by the City of Libby because I worked 40 to 50 hours per week on criminal cases alone.  

After leaving the City of Libby, I thought the position was worth at least $70,000 then as a paid employee if the city would provide a half-time paralegal to assist the city attorney.  

I worked with Allan Payne when I was city attorney in Libby, and from my interaction, I find him to be a class act. He is very knowledgeable, and I think the City of Libby is lucky to have him as its new attorney.