(STURGIS) – The Sturgis City Commission will be sending out Request For Qualifications to see if other firms would like to be the City Attorney.

Wednesday night, the Commission heard from Roger Bird, who has been the City Attorney since the late 1990’s, after serving many years as the Assistant City Attorney behind Ray Dresser, Bill Marks and John Svenson. Bird says he’s had the pleasure of working with many different Commissions and City Managers, and has enjoyed all of them. But now he is 90 percent retired and it’s time to transition out of the role.

Mayor Jeff Mullins said it would make sense to have T.J. Reed take over the duties of City Attorney. Reed works for the Bird Law Firm, and has been doing more work for the City over the last several months, along with attending the City Commission meetings.

Commissioner Frank Perez asked when the last time the City asked any other law firms if they would like to be considered for the position. When no one could answer, he suggested this would be a good time to send out requests for proposals.

The City Charter says that the City Commission is not required to do an official search for an attorney since it is an appointed position. The lawyer must operate their primary office in the City limits, according to the Charter, and they must be qualified to practice in all courts in the State and qualified to practice in the State Supreme Court for three years prior to their appointment.

City Manager Mike Hughes, along with Mullins and Bird had no problem with doing an RFQ process, but all voiced their concerns that if a new law firm is selected, there is a lot of history for them to get familiar with. Hughes was also concerned that a potential firm doesn’t have any municipal law experience.

The Commission voted 6-2 to send out the RFQ’s and discuss them during a future meeting.