FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Despite plans announced last year by some council members to bring the city into compliance with Alabama law in how it awards private attorney contracts, the City Council approved the hiring of a Hand Arendall lawyer Monday without a written document.

Alabama requires that all contracts engaged in by a city be in writing and approved by the council.

During the March 14 council meeting, Council President Lonnie Mixon said that City Attorney Marion “Tut” Wynne had recommended Ben Goldman of Hand Arendall’s Birmingham office to represent the city at $200 per hour in a case filed in federal bankruptcy court there. Mixon asked for a motion to approve Goldman’s hiring at that rate, which the council did unanimously.

That’s the second time this year the council has approved the hiring of a private attorney without a written contract in hand. Mixon said a written contract would be executed by the city with the Hand Arendall firm in the near future based on the terms of the agreement described Monday night.

As reported by The Fairhope Courier last September, since at least 2000 the city has hired private lawyers with neither council approval nor written contracts. A majority of those contracts went to attorneys with the Hand Arendall law firm, according to records.

Editor’s note: For additional coverage, see upcoming story in print edition of The Fairhope Courier as latest article in continuing series on the cost of private attorneys and how they are hired.