Eric Lee: What’s taking so long to complete Atwater exec’s background checks?
What is the role of a city attorney? In a nutshell here it is, from thebalance.com: “A city attorney advises a municipal government’s leadership on legal matters that may impact the city. A city attorney must be well-versed in state law governing the creation and operation of municipal governments.” In addition, “a city attorney must know human resources, open meetings, open records, contracts, tax and criminal law.”
OK, the city attorney is responsible for “legal matters that may impact the city. Why, then, is Atwater’s city attorney stonewalling the criminal background check on the newly hired interim city manager, Art DeWerk?
DeWerk is supposed to sign a form that compels the city to do a criminal background check, along with a credit check, references and a physical – regardless of whether this has been done for others hires, it is required!
Why is the city attorney, hired by the city council, telling them that this was already done when in reality it was not? Again, he should be skilled in legal research and communicating complex information in understandable ways. Perhaps it is time to pose this question to the California bar?
Eric Lee, Atwater
This story was originally published January 2, 2018 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Eric Lee: What’s taking so long to complete Atwater exec’s background checks?."