Traverse City commissioners Monday approved hiring attorney team James G. Young and Richard Wilson to represent the city as outside counsel in developer Tom McIntyre's lawsuit against the city over Proposal 3.

Commissioners voted 5-2 in support of the contract, which had a not-to-exceed limit of $30,000. Commissioner Tim Werner and Mayor Jim Carruthers opposed the motion. Werner had previously voted against seeking outside counsel in the case, citing his belief City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht should continue representing the city. Carruthers cited concerns with language Young and Wilson included in their proposal about representing the city's position of neutrality in the case as the reason for his opposition.

"I would like them to vigorously support the city, the city voters and the referendum that we moved forward," said Carruthers. "I’m not hiring someone to act neutrally in a case where we already have an attorney that can act neutrally in a case."

Commissioner Richard Lewis, referring to public criticism Trible-Laucht faced for relaying the city's stance of neutrality in court, responded to Carruthers: "But our problem is there are outside parties that believe she cannot be involved. So we’re stuck having to go this route." Commissioner Gary Howe noted commissioners had instructed staff to pursue a position of neutrality in the case in the hopes the courts would provide a declaratory ruling on the legality of Proposal 3, the charter amendment requiring a public vote on buildings over 60 feet tall. "I’ll just remind the public the city commission directs our city attorney, so our city attorney wasn’t acting on her own," Howe said.

City Manager Marty Colburn also told commissioners that potential outside firms hadn't submitted a full legal analysis or intended strategy with their proposals, since the bids were public documents. He said Young and Wilson would meet with commissioners to flesh out a preferred approach to handling the lawsuit. "They’re not going to get into a full-fledged strategy until they have an opportunity to meet with you," Colburn said.

Also at Monday's meeting: Traverse City commissioners amended the city’s implementation policy for Proposal 3 to allow for a preamble to be included with ballot language for projects, and approved an updated master sewer agreement with partnering municipalities in the wastewater treatment plant.