SLT dealing with major staffing issues

By Kathryn Reed

How the South Lake Tahoe city attorney’s office will function in the future is expected to be discussed at the April 27 special City Council meeting.

The goal when two attorneys were hired nearly a year ago was to cut down on the use of outside counsel.

“And it is still a goal of the council to alleviate outside counsel,” Mayor Kathay Lovell said.

Jacqueline Mittelstadt resigned from her position effective this month. This leaves Patrick Enright and the support staff to handle legal matters for the city.

Enright has said the workload warrants two full-time attorneys in the city. Outside legal counsel is still going to be needed for specialties the in-house attorneys are not familiar with.

The other department head position still empty in the city – police chief – is expected to remain that way until a new city manager is hired. The police chief reports to the city manager.

To reap the desired savings by having the position filled by Capt. Martin Hewlett, he must continue to be interim chief into the fall.

Preliminary work is being done to recruit a police chief. Lovell said the next city manager will do the actual hiring. The process to find a city manager is in the initial stages, with a headhunter being hired earlier this month.

The April 27 meeting is at 10am at Lake Tahoe Airport