For the first time in four decades, the City of Powell has new legal representation.

Council members bid farewell last month to City Attorney Sandee Kitchen and Deputy City Attorney Scott Kath, who had served in the roles since 1988. However, the change won’t be too dramatic: Two attorneys from the same Powell firm — Scott Kolpitcke and Alexa Rolin of Copenhaver, Kitchen & Kolpitcke — have now stepped into the positions.

Kolpitcke and Rolin will take on the duties that Kitchen and Kath performed over the past 35 years. They’ll provide general legal advice and representation to the city, draft and review contracts, prepare ordinances and prosecute violations of city ordinances in municipal court. The attorneys will also attend all meetings of the Powell City Council and the city’s planning and zoning commission.

To replace Kitchen and Kath, “we went out and advertised pretty thoroughly,” Mayor John Wetzel said at the council’s Dec. 4 meeting, but Copenhaver, Kitchen & Kolpitcke (CKK) was the only firm to respond to the city’s request for proposals.

CKK offered three different options, which ranged from simply charging $200 an hour to a flat $5,000 monthly fee for everything that falls within “the reasonable scope of legal services generally provided to the city.”

The council opted for the middle option: paying $4,000 per month for 20 to 30 hours of work from CKK. Any additional time will be billed at $200 an hour.

Wetzel said he preferred the flat fee arrangement, “just to know that we have somebody that’s kind of working for us and not just on call, so to speak.” Just paying hourly “sort of sounds like we’re just calling whoever,” he said.

Councilman Zane Logan also endorsed paying a fixed rate for 20-30 hours each month given “the attention that we’re going to require at times.”

The new, one-year contract moves the city attorney from on-staff to an independent contractor, and it’s poised to deliver significant savings.

The city paid $105,771 in the last fiscal year for its attorneys, but CKK’s new contract could potentially put the annual cost around $50,000, although that’s dependent on hours worked and expenses.

Although no one can match Kitchen and Kath’s experience (see related story), Kolpitcke has represented cities, towns and other government agencies in Wyoming for 25 years. That includes serving as the city attorney in Cody. (CKK is charging Cody $8,160 a month for its services, which pencils out to just under $98,000 a year.)

As for Rolin, she joined CKK in August 2022 and began practicing law last February. Her prior experience in municipal government includes serving as an extern for the Laramie City Attorney in 2020.

According to CKK’s proposal, Rolin will serve as the city’s prosecutor in municipal court and as the primary attorney for council meetings. Kolpitcke will cover planning and zoning meetings and serve as the primary attorney for consulting on “day-to-day issues,” including personnel. They’ll share some duties and fill in for one another when needed.

According to the contract, all of the firm’s work will be performed “in a competent, professional and cost-effective manner.”

At her final city council meeting in December, Kitchen offered an endorsement of Kolpitcke and Rolin.

“I think you’re going to be getting good representation,” she told the council.