• David Tewes •
• Originally published January 8, 2009 at 11:13 p.m., updated January 8, 2009 at 11:13 p.m.

A proposal to make Victoria's city attorney an elected post was not popular with a city committee reviewing the idea Thursday.

"It would politicize that position," said Council Member Paul Polasek, a member of the committee. "That doesn't need to happen here."

But Russell Pruitt with Citizens for Responsible Government, which is proposing the change, said it would make the attorney more responsible to the voters.

"We're paying his salary and it's a pretty a good salary from what I understand," he said. "But we have no input."

Victoria attorney Bill Russell who serves on the city committee, said there are hundreds of attorneys in Victoria that could be elected as city attorney. But they would not be qualified, he said.

"It's a narrow area of law," said Russell, a former council member. "It's very specialized."

There are only 70 attorneys in the United States that have been recognized as experts in municipal law, Mayor Will Armstrong said. Victoria's current city attorney, Miles Risley, is one of those.

He would be forced out of office after six years if the citizens group is also successful in convincing voters to change the city charter to adopt term limits. "That would be a mistake," Armstrong said.

The citizens group is also pushing to let voters decide whether to keep the city from spending public funds on behalf of any current or former indicted city official. The exception would be if voters approve the expenditure.

"We're going to have real trouble getting people to be servants of the city if we're not willing to support them," Russell said.

But Pruitt said when his group was circulating a petition to call a charter change election, this was probably the most popular item with those that signed the document.

Members of the citizens group believe it was unethical and possibly illegal for the council to have agreed to help with the legal defense of four city officials indicted last year.

"We felt this was a conflict of interest," Pruitt said. "The taxpayer is not here to pay for legal defense on any kind of charges."

Council Member Jim Wyatt, also a member of the city charter committee, said the public should vote that proposal down.

"We need to know and the public needs to know this is bad for this city and it's bad for the employees," he said.

• CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBLE

  Government is still awaiting word on whether its petition has enough valid signatures to force the city to call a charter change election.

  The group needed 1,600 signatures and a spokesman said he believes it has ...

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CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBLE

Government is still awaiting word on whether its petition has enough valid signatures to force the city to call a charter change election.

The group needed 1,600 signatures and a spokesman said he believes it has 1,756 that will be certified by the city as eligible voters.

The petition was presented Tuesday to City Secretary Scarlet Swoboda, who will certify the signatures. She said she has 20 days to complete that task.

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