City Decides To Table Hiring of PR Firm in $106M Lawsuit

The City Council was scheduled to vote on a contract with a public relations firm to work on its communications relating to a $106 million lawsuit filed against the city by a developer but decided Tuesday not to move forward with the contract at this time.

Mayor Mary Ann Lutz said in an interview that the contract was pulled from the agenda because City Manager Laurie Lile decided that the city did not need to put the firm, Cerrell Associates, on retainer at this time. That could change in the future, she said.

"We just decided that we’re okay with what they’ve done thus far and we don’t need them to do anything else at this time," Lutz said.

The firm has already worked on communications related to the lawsuit under another contract, Lutz said. They've been hired in the past to do public relations for other issues like the Wilderness Preserve resource management plan, she said.

The contract that the city tabled Tuesday for public relations related to the $106 million lawsuit filed by local developer Samuelson & Fetter.

Lutz said that the city will be releasing more information about the lawsuit in the next few weeks.