Riverside Council reappoints city attorney

The Riverside City Council voted to reappoint Les Lamping as its city attorney Monday, although the vote was not unanimous. Councilors Chris Kirkwood, Nate Kasdorf and Kevin Kiene voted in favor of reappointing Lamping while councilors Bob Schneider Jr. and Ralph Schnoebelen voted against the motion. Lamping will be paid $75 an hour.

Schneider said he would like to interview other attorneys. Schnoebelen said he was not pleased with Lamping?s work.

?Les drops the ball on a lot of things,? he said. ?I would like to see us be involved with a firm who is working in county and city government, or has some expertise in that area. I know on several occasions we almost got in trouble. In fact, we almost lost the opportunity to get the ground for the community center because he dragged his feet, and they were getting upset he wasn?t getting them the information.?

Kirkwood said, ?That?s a pretty serious allegation to make if you don?t have any proof, Ralph.?

City clerk Missy Carter said she believed Lamping did the requisite paperwork and that the city was waiting for signatures from the land?s prior owners.

On the issue of committees, Kirkwood said she would prefer to be on the employee committee with Kasdorf, who was not assigned to that committee. When the committee assignments were put up for a vote, Kirkwood was the only councilor to vote against the motion.

The councilors were trying out a sound system that amplified their voices for the audience. Members of the audience complained that there was noticeable feedback from the microphones. The council instructed Carter to investigate sound system companies to see if one of them could fix the problem.

The council discussed the issue of street lights on Enterprise Drive near Enterprise Park. At its Jan. 4 meeting, the council voted to have developer Steve Mann pay for two light poles, two lights and wires going to the poles. The council voted 4-1 to return $10,000 in retainage to Mann, leaving $5,000 left in retainage. Kiene was the only no vote.

The council discussed who was responsible for putting in the street lights. Carter said Mann had the punchlist which included the infrastructure.

At the end of the meeting, Poch spoke about how he didn?t like anonymous letters being included in the councilors? packets. He thought the city didn?t used to include anonymous correspondence in its council packets. He said if an anonymous person wants to address a letter to a councilor the person should send it to the councilor at his or her home address.

?I?m trying to provide decent leadership and civility,? he said. ?If the council says, ?We?re going to accept every anonymous thing that comes our way, matter of fact, we suggest everything come anonymous so there can?t be any retribution.??

Kiene said he wanted to see all letters that were addressed to the council. He said the communication wouldn?t have to be on the council?s agenda but it should be included in the ?FYI? section of the packet.

Schnoebelen said, ?If people aren?t willing to put their name on it, it?s trash.?