City Attorney

Salary: Salary is commensurate with experience and will be determined by Greeley City Council.

Job Summary:

The City Attorney serves as the chief legal advisor to the City of Greeley and is responsible for providing legal services to the City Council, the City Manager, all departments, employees, and City boards and commissions. Responsibilities include planning, staffing, and supervising the legal service needs of the City, and preparing and administering the Department budget. 


The City Attorney represents the City in all legal proceedings; is responsible for the preparation and presentation of cases; renders legal opinions; prepares contracts, ordinances, resolutions, and leases; and assists in drafting proposed legislation for enactment by the state legislature on matters of interest to the City. The City Attorney defends the City in cases filed in county, state, and federal courts; manages the hiring and work of outside attorneys retained to provide legal services to the City; and represents the City in all cases filed in Greeley Municipal Court. Work is performed with independence in accordance with accepted practices. This position is responsible for performing related duties as required. 

The City Attorney is appointed by the City Council and receives general direction from City Council who reviews work through conferences and results achieved. This position class is FLSA exempt-executive.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills:

Minimum Requirements

• Graduation from a school of law accredited by the American Bar Association with a Juris Doctor Degree. 
• Ten (10) years of experience in the practice of law.
• Three (3) years of experience representing a public entity. 
• One (1) year of experience supervising a professional staff. 
• Licensed to practice Law in the state of Colorado at the time of application.

Preferred

• Fifteen (15) or more years of experience in the practice of law.
• Five (5) years of experience representing a public entity.
• Two (2) or more years of experience supervising a professional staff. 
• Residing in the State of Colorado at the time of appointment.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of federal and state laws affecting city governments
• Knowledge of City ordinances, particularly those relating to the authority and functions of City departments
• Knowledge of the established precedents and sources of legal reference applicable to City activities
• Knowledge of legal principles and practices
• Knowledge of the principles, practices, and methods of employee supervision, training, and evaluation
• Knowledge of the methods of legal research
• Ability to attend legislative sessions, in order to represent and promote the interests of the City before committees and representatives
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with subordinates, other City employees, other public officials, and the general public
• Ability to communicate effectively in oral and written form
• Ability to conduct self at all times in an ethical, professional and respectful manner, remain objective when providing services given competing demands/points of view of elected officials, appointed officials, and the public.
• Ability to establish and maintain cooperative and effective working relationships with elected officials and staff, law enforcement, legal and court officials and stakeholders, both internal and external.
• Ability to effectively apply legal knowledge and skills in the context of the operation of municipal government and the development of public policy and laws.
• Ability to develop and maintain effective organizational structure, financial control, and management information systems for the department.
• Ability to identify the Department's future direction in response to changing City needs, and to develop, implement, and monitor appropriate plans, schedules, and action steps.
• Ability to work independently under general policy and strategic guidance.
• Ability to maintain consistent and punctual attendance.
• Ability and willingness to demonstrate the public service competencies of service orientation, results orientation, and teamwork and cooperation
• Excellent interpersonal skills for establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with staff, other departments, elected officials, the media, and the public. 
• Ability to supervise and direct the work of a team of legal and administrative personnel, develop talent, provide guidance and corrective action when necessary, and curate a high-performance, collaborative culture.
• Highly effective teambuilding and leadership skills including consensus-building to resolve conflicts, negotiate agreements and gain cooperation among competing interest groups. 
• Skilled in interpreting and appropriately applying complex codes, regulations, legal documents, policies and procedures and explaining these to clients.
• Excellent oral communications skills for explaining legal issues and options, as well as complex legal principals and regulations to clients and to garner their compliance. 
• Skilled in litigation and in trial work and in negotiating settlements and agreements in the best interests of the City.
• Problem analysis and decision-making skills, adaptability/flexibility, and stress tolerance in a highly visible public environment.
• Excellent strategic planning, organizational, and time management skills.
• Excellent writing skills for preparation and review of legal documents and opinions.
• Public presentation skills.

Travel:

• Approximately 25% travel is required.

Essential Functions:

• Advises the Mayor, City Manager, and City Council regarding legal matters affecting the City.
• Directly or through staff, researches federal, State and local laws and regulations, and issues legal opinions to City leaders, the elected and appointed officials of the City and to various City boards and commissions. 
• Maintains close liaison with the Mayor, City Council, City departments, boards, and commissions.
• Staffs or attends all regular City Council meetings, and committee meetings as appropriate to provide legal guidance to elected officials in carrying out their responsibilities within the law.
• Answers communications from the public relative to legal matters affecting the City.
• Advises taxpayers concerning municipal codes and ordinances.
• Tries cases before county, state, and federal courts.
• Works effectively with legal specialists engaged by the City for the preparation and trial of unusually complex and important cases in which the City may be involved.
• Investigates complaints and claims by or against the City.
• Drafts, maintains, and updates legal documents on behalf of the City, including ordinances, resolutions, City Municipal Code provisions, contracts, and a variety of other legal instruments. 
• Approves as to form and content all City legal documents prior to execution by the Mayor or other approving authority.
• Assists in forming proposed legislation for enactment by the State legislature on matters of interest to the City.
• Uses demonstrative evidence in preparing and presenting legal cases.
• Organizes, interprets, and applies legal principles and knowledge to complex legal problems. 
• Prepares civil cases for trial.
• Comprehends and makes inferences from written material to provide legal representation and advice.
• Analyzes narrative and statistical data to make recommendations regarding legal issues affecting the City.
• Oversees the enforcement of department policies and procedures, and the maintenance of proper records and reference facilities.
• Prepares and administers the department budget.
• Directly or through staff, brings legal action on behalf of the City.
• Defends the City, its officials and employees acting on behalf of the City, when charged with violation of law or regulation.
• Hires special (third party) legal counsel to provide special expertise or to handle exceptional legal workload.
• Oversees the work of special legal counsel performance of their legal services for the City.
• Assures the financial well-being of the department by establishing cost control measures and monitoring all fiscal operations of the department.
• Prepares annual budget and justifies budget requests and amendments.
• Assures the efficient and economical use of departmental funds, staff, materials, facilities, and time.
• Supervise and direct professional team of legal and administrative staff. Provides coaching and constructive feedback, conducts career planning conversations, and nurtures a high-performance and collaborative culture.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Organize and delegate assignments to team members.
• Hire, train, motivate, and coach employees.
• Evaluate employee performance and sets goals.
• Hold employees accountable for assigned task and goals.
• Provide timely and constructive feedback.
• Provide training opportunities with a focus on employeedevelopment.
• Nurture and encourage a high-performance and collaborative culture.
• Support excellent customer service between City Attorney staff and all departments of the City as well as with the constituents of the City of Greeley.
• Resolve conflicts and complaints.
• Analyze information and processes and develop more effective or efficient processes.
• Establish and achieve business and financial objectives.
• Ensure compliance with safety procedures.

Work Environment and Physical Requirements:

Work Environment: 

• Position requires extensive time at a computer performing legal research, and drafting documents and email communications.
• Typically, the outside parameters of acceptable terms, conditions, and alternatives in any legal matter is previously provided by the appropriate City personnel, and the City Attorney negotiates, defends, and drafts appropriate documents in the City's best interests within those parameters.
• This is primarily a sedentary position with business conducted either in an office or courtroom setting.
• Public contact, sometimes in confrontational situations
• Office environment with travel to and appearance in meetings, court and other formal environments.
• Busy office activity with frequent inflexible deadlines
• Marginal to moderate hazards that are typically predictable or well protected against; multiple people from a broad populace are contacted daily, and some of these are defendants with criminal records.
• May be required to drive personal vehicle for business purposes.

Physical Requirements:

• Position requires extensive time at a computer performing legal research, and drafting documents and email communications.
• Vision enough to interpret computer screens and documents to assist the public and complete work assignments and move independently from one location to another; specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.
• Manual dexterity enough to accurately input, retrieve and verify work assignments; employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms.
• Light to moderate physical effort that includes frequent standing, walking, keypunching, and oral communication; maintaining arms and hands in the same position for repetitive tasks; frequently works with light objects and light hand tools.

EOE Statement: The City of Greeley provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

ADA Statement: We are committed to an inclusive and barrier-free search process, and will provide accommodation, as needed, to those who request assistance through the ADA Coordinator at  ..

Conditions of Employment: The City of Greeley is an at-will employer. Employees and the City may terminate employment at any time for any or no reason. Candidates must successfully complete all pre-employment screenings and employment eligibility verification. Pre-employment screenings include a drug test, a background and national sex offender search, a motor vehicle record search, and for some positions, a physical demands evaluation. For more information about City policies and practices during the recruitment process, including but not limited to EOE, Reasonable Accommodation, and pre-employment screenings, please visit our career page  HERE.