City approves $37,725 in attorney fees for long-running water and sewer litigation

Bill Pfeiffer, city attorney, updated the council on ongoing water and sewer litigation with Alpena Township and presented a billing covering May 1, 2024 through May 31, 2025. Pfeiffer described the case history going back to negotiations in 2009, a lawsuit filed in February 2014 and intermittent trial dates in 2024, and said settlement talks are ongoing with a joint settlement conference scheduled the following Monday.

Pfeiffer said the litigation “has taken an extraordinary amount of time, above and beyond my ordinary duties as city attorney,” and submitted a billing request for $37,725 for the 13-month period. He said portions of the billing contain attorney-client privileged details and that council members have access to those materials by request.

A motion to pay the attorney fees as requested was introduced and seconded. The council approved the payment; Anna Soick recorded the roll call with Council members voting in the affirmative (council members listed on the roll: Palantzuk, Mitchell, Mayor Pro Tem Walczak, Carrier). The motion carried.

Pfeiffer told the council that negotiations have produced partial agreements for some years and that both the city and township have incurred significant costs; he stressed progress in recent behind-the-scenes negotiations but declined to predict an immediate settlement.