The city of Bryant will begin looking for a new city attorney after current City Attorney Josh Farmer was elected to the Saline County Circuit Court bench in March.
With Farmer shifting to his new job over the next two months, according to a Wednesday news release, the role of interviewing applicants will fall on Mayor Allen Scott.
"[Farmer] did a great job for us," Scott said. "I was grateful to have him as he was reelected as attorney when I came on and we could adjust his role to a true city attorney's role."
Farmer was the first true city attorney Bryant had, according to Scott, as before the attorney acted as though in a staff position and not a full part of the city's elected leadership.
"The previous mayor basically said 'That's fine. You're elected city attorney. We're still going to do all this stuff through my guy, and you can just prosecute cases,'" Scott said. "When I came on, we adjusted it like it should be to be where he was the legal representative for the city, so, if the city were sued, he was the attorney responsible for that."
The incoming city attorney will need to fill the newer, bigger shoes Farmer filled by advising and representing the city in all legal matters and tending to other city functions such as Freedom of Information requests and reviewing contracts. The candidate must be a registered attorney in Arkansas and live within the city limits of Bryant.
"The qualifications for city attorney are spelled out on our website, and it tells you what the job really is -- the job duties," Scott said.
Those qualifications and information about applying can be found at cityofbryant.com/1547/Bryant-City-Attorney as well as election information.
With this being an elected role, those interested in applying will have to run in an election in 2022 at the end of the term Farmer won, which started in 2019.
Many of the qualifications listed have close interaction with city officials, distinguishing the job from a regular attorney position, according to Scott.
"It's of the utmost importance, because the attorney, he or she attends to all City Council meetings," Scott said. "He comes to all the council meetings because there's always a question related to legal or something."
Scott wants the new city attorney to be able to attend other meetings besides the council meetings.
"If there's something that we think or our staff thinks may be related to legal, he's always available, and I'd expect the new attorney to do the same thing to be available to go to that meeting," Scott said. "They don't necessarily have to attend all of those meetings."
The city expects Scott to begin interviewing for the position within the next two weeks and make a recommendation at the City Council's July 28 meeting, according to the release.