Jackson City Attorney Pieter Teeuwissen officially adopted his job in October, although in truth he had been filling the role in some capacity for more than five years. Teeuwissen, 43, was the city’s legal defense attorney until former City Attorney Sarah O’Reilly-Evans left her post after the 2009 municipal election. Teeuwissen, a Tougaloo College and University of Minnesota Law School graduate, served as a managing partner in the law firm of former Mayor Dale Danks before serving as a special Hinds County Circuit Court judge and a senior deputy and special assistant, to the city attorney between November 2004 and June 2009.
Teeuwissen served as one of the city’s better guardians of its tort fund during the Melton administration, successfully beating back many lawsuits, and keeping some of the more potentially devastating suits to a financial minimum. Teeuwissen made clear his eagerness for the position, even before O’Reilly-Evans left, and got an easy confirmation from the city council late last year.
How are you liking your new digs?
I gotta say I’m liking them a lot.
Why? Seems complicated.
After the last four years, it’s a pleasure to be working with a mayor, an administration and a council that, for the most part, have Jackson’s best interest at heart.
What are the changes you’re helping to bring about?
In 2010, what you want to see from the city is more accountability from all the departments and a more efficient delivery of government services. That means the creation of various internal procedures that allow us to hold ourselves accountable and provide services to the public in a timely and efficient manner.
The last administration had a habit, for a time, of funneling most public-information requests through the city’s legal department. What’s the process like these days?
The open-records policy has already been revised. Open-records requests are now submitted to the clerk on a revised form. The policy has been streamlined, and Chris Mims, who’s over communications, coordinates the information. The legal department only gets involved now if there seems to be an issue that could be exempt from info requests under state statutes.
Sounds like less work for your team than the last one.
It’s definitely less work compared to the last few years—at least on open-records requests. And it’s all because we’re treating open-records requests as the government should treat them: They shouldn’t be a legal matter first. They should be a matter of public record first, with legal coming in only when needed.
Are there any cases coming out this year that you’re particularly nervous about?
Knock on wood, there’s nothing that I’m nervous about right now, not legally, anyhow. The big challenge for the city this year is the decreased tax revenue, just like it is with the state. Fiscal prudence is the call for the day, throughout the rest of the year.
Mayor Johnson pointed out last week that the city is seeing a 15 percent drop in sales revenue. How is this kind of shortfall hitting the legal department?
We’re not short-staffed, but there are some vacant positions in our office that we’re not inclined to fill because of budget cuts. I can’t say we’re getting swamped because of the lack of manpower. If anything, it makes us overly cautious on how (often) we (relent and) pay claims and how we evaluate paying for outside resources. We don’t find ourselves contracting outside counsel much now. We have no choice but to hire experts on some cases, but we handle as many matters as we can in-house.
You used to run the city’s legal defense team. If you’re over the department then who’s managing the protection of the city?
I’m still involved in that, but I’m fortunate to still have some young attorneys that I’ve hired over the last few years who chose to remain with the city, and I’m confident in my attorneys. I’ve probably been more involved than I would have liked to have been in the defense department, but I envision doing a lot more delegation in 2010. That initial involvement was to make sure I’m fully aware of all the issues that go on in the various departments of the city.
The last city attorney’s employment agreement stirred up a lot of news for us, with her claiming additional payment for bond work, along with her salary. Does your own employment agreement contain any elusive clauses regarding bond services?
I’m proud to say that I’m just a salaried City of Jackson employee. No clauses, bonuses or fees for bond work. In fact we’ve done most of the Timber Falls bond work (a new subdivision in South Jackson) in-house, and nobody got any bonuses for any of it. Glad you asked, actually.
Previous Comments
Based on the interview, I like this guy.
#154871 | Author: golden eagle | Date: Jan 7 2010
I had a five year case, where Pieter represented the City of Jackson. In my experience, Pieter is an excellent lawyer, and the City of Jackson is lucky to have someone of his caliber in the top office. I expect him to continue to do good things for Jackson.
#154919 | Author: amtruran | Date: Jan 8 2010