It's one of the most powerful positions at City Hall. And once again, the city attorney job is helping to fuel a political stand-off.
The City Council is looking to replace the recently-departed Eileen Teichert. The council plans to use a headhunter and most members want to have a new, permanent city attorney on the job this fall.
Mayor Kevin Johnson doesn't agree with that timeline. He thinks the council should wait to appoint its top legal adviser until after the November election, when at least two current council members - Rob Fong and Sandy Sheedy - will have given up their seats. The mayor wants their replacements to have a voice in who is named to the post.
Johnson is in the minority on this one, just as he was in his criticisms of Teichert over her critiques of his strong mayor plans. Still, he asked the city manager's office on Tuesday to publicly report to the full council in a few weeks on the process to hire a new attorney. So far, all of those discussions have taken place behind closed doors.
"That whole process should be transparent in the public," the mayor said.
This should be an interesting tug of war to watch as it unfolds this summer.
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