Updated: Tuesday, Feb. 6
The Prairie Village City Council on Monday unanimously approved Mayor Eric Mikkelson’s recommendation to appoint Alex Aggen and Hunter Law Group as the new city attorney.
Aggen, an attorney with the Prairie Village-based Hunter Law Group, earned a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.
Mandi Hunter, founder of Hunter Law Group and soon-to-be Johnson County Bar Association president, along with the firm’s senior partner Stephanie Hammann are going to work with Aggen in supportive roles.
Watch the city council’s discussion on Feb. 5 online here, starting at 1:01:28.
Original story continues below:
The city of Prairie Village is getting a new city attorney.
Mayor Eric Mikkelson on Dec. 18 announced that City Attorney David Waters, who is also the mayor of Westwood, is stepping down from his work with Prairie Village.
Waters’ decision to step down came as he’s faced scrutiny from some residents in both cities, for his role as city attorney in fending off a citizen-led petition drive in Prairie Village last year and also for helping shepherd through a controversial office and park development in his home city of Westwood.
His visibility in official capacities in both cities in a time of high emotion over development and zoning issues led some residents to suggest his dual roles posed at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Now, the Prairie Village City Council is set to consider appointing a new city attorney to replace Waters.
Waters had served as city attorney since 2018
- Waters told the Post via email that including his 2018 appointment, he has represented and worked for Prairie Village in some capacity for nearly 20 years.
- He said he’s been pleased to work with several mayors, city councils and what he “would consider to be one of the best, highest-regarded, and professional staffs in Johnson County.”
- “It has been and continues to be an incredibly rewarding experience, personally and professionally, to work with those elected officials, volunteers, and staff that are dedicated to their community and that see the true value and importance of good local government,” Waters said.
Committee recommends Prairie Village law firm
A special committee appointed by Mikkelson — made up of two city councilmembers and five city employees — reviewed eight applications for a new city attorney.
The committee ultimately recommended the Prairie Village-based Hunter Law Group, owned by Mandi Hunter, to represent the city in legal matters.
As part of the committee’s recommendation Alex Aggen, an attorney with the Hunter firm, will be the city’s principal attorney, with Hunter and another of the firm’s partners, Stephanie Hammann, in assisting roles.
Any of the attorneys who do work for the city are to bill at a rate of $275 an hour, with billing time capped at three hours for any city council meeting, according to city documents.
State groups say Waters’ dual roles posed no conflict of interest
Waters dual roles drew criticism from some residents, but both the Kansas League of Municipalities and the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission cite previous legal rulings to say Waters’ arrangement was not problematic.
At a December city council meeting, Prairie Village resident Tom Ward suggested Waters’s roles as Prairie Village city attorney and Westwood mayor posed a potential conflict of interest, especially given some Westwood residents’ anger over the controversial Karbank project on Rainbow Boulevard.
“Not being an attorney or anything, it seems like a pretty cozy little group up here to me, seems like there might be a conflict of interest,” Ward said. “That’s just my thoughts.”
But Nicole Proulx Aiken, communications & education counsel for the League of Kansas Municipalities, told the Post via email that the League is unaware of any state laws or court decisions that prohibit an elected official of one city to concurrently serve as a government employee for a different city.
Aiken pointed to four different Kansas attorney general opinions — from 1975, 1978, 1981 and 1989 — that find no issues with a government employee serving as an elected official at the same time.
Likewise, Mark Skoglund, executive director for the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, said serving concurrently as an elected official of one city and an employee of another city is not a conflict of interest.
Skoglund said conflict of interest statutes prohibit participation in a contract between a public entity and a separate entity with whom the person has a substantial interest.
Under Prairie Village city code, the mayor appoints the city attorney for a two-year period with a recommendation from the city administrator.
Next steps:
- The city council will consider the recommendation to appoint Hunter Law Group’s Aggen as the city’s new attorney on Feb. 5.
- City council meetings start at 6 p.m at city hall, 7700 Mission Rd.
- City staff previously said at the Jan. 16 meeting that the earliest a new city attorney can take over is at the second meeting in February.
