• City Attorney:
  Matters concerning City Council, Odessa Development Corporation, Contracts and Claims against the City.
• First Assistant City Attorney:
  Matters concerning Real Estate, Community Development, Public Works, Engineering and Planning and Zoning.
• Senior Assistant City Attorney:
  Matters concerning Employment Law, Collections, Police Legal Advisor.
• Assistant City Attorney:
  Matters concerning Prosecution of Criminal Cases in Municipal Court.
• Truancy Attorney:
  Matters concerning Truancy Cases.

The responsibility of the Legal Department is to provide a wide-range of legal services to the City of Odessa via the City Council, City organizations, and citizens.  Legal services provided include:

• Preparation of contracts, deeds, resolutions, ordinances, and other legal documents
• Legal counseling
• Prosecution of misdemeanor criminal cases under the authority of the State of Texas
• Representation in civil cases
• Representation before boards and commissions

The Legal Department consists of offices located at City Hall and the Police/Municipal Court building.

At City Hall:
The City Attorney, First Assistant City Attorney, Senior Assistant City Attorney-Civil, Legal Assistant, Executive Legal Secretary and Legal Secretary meet the demands of the City Council, City Manager, Department Heads and Boards for civil legal services.  Examples of legal services rendered by Attorneys at City Hall include:

• Acquisition of real estate
• Preparation of contracts
• Preparation of ordinances and resolutions
• Legal representation before Boards and Commissions

At the Police/Municipal Court building:
An Assistant City Attorney serves as Prosecutor in Odessa Municipal Court with the assistance of a Legal Secretary.  This Attorney represents the City of Odessa and the State of Texas in Municipal Court and in the Ector County Courts on appeal.  Finally, there is a Police Legal Advisor who offices at the Police Department and whose duties include:

• Conducting legal seminars for police officers
• Providing legal counsel to the Police Chief
• Assisting with other legal services to the Department

In the future, we anticipate a significant amount of legal work in the areas of economic development, acquisition of property (including street right-of-way), collection of delinquent utility accounts, analysis of proposed new state legislation, preparation of special ordinances and defending claims and lawsuits filed against the City.

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