The Columbia Falls City Council May 18 voted to bring the city attorney position in house after years of contracting the services out with the Breck Law Firm.

Justin and Stephanie Breck have sold their Columbia Falls firm to Chad Cannon and with the city seeing significant growth in the past few years the workload has also grown significantly.

The attorneys not only handle legal counsel for the city, they also are the city’s prosecutor in misdemeanor and other cases tried in the city court.

The contract with the Brecks ends on July 1, so the city doesn’t have a whole lot of time to find new counsel.

The Brecks have been the city’s attorneys for years.

In a staff report by City Manger Eric Hanks, they also suggested hiring a legal assistant that will work in code compliance and other administrative duties.

The legal department would be budgeted for $225,000 for the department as a whole.

The city attorney salary would be about $140,000 annually, with benefits.

The city will begin advertising the position soon.

In other news:

Council gave its first thoughts on the rewrite of the city’s subdivision and zoning codes as required under the Montana Land Use Planning Act. One of the big concerns was the lack of parking required for new homes and residences. A single family home would be required to have just one parking spot, for example.

While it is a concern, city planner Eric Mulcahy noted that it would be tough to sell a single family home with just one parking spot, at least in Montana. In other words, the market will likely dictate parking, not the zoning so much.