Evanston Names Deputy As New Top City Attorney

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston announced the replacement for its departed city attorney Tuesday. City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said he picked Deputy City Attorney Michelle Masoncup, who had been serving as interim corporation counsel since April, to helm Evanston's law department on a permanent basis. The city's new chief legal counsel has worked in Evanston for eight years.

“Michelle brings more than a decade of legal experience to her new position, including handling some of the City’s most interesting and complex land transactions over the last several years,” said Bobkiewicz in a release. “Michelle understands Evanston, understands our community values of justice and fairness, and will be a tireless advocate on behalf of the City. I look forward to working with her in her new position.”

Masoncup has negotiated and closed major land use transactions for the City, including multimillion dollar real estate sale and purchase contracts, commercial tenant lease agreements and redevelopment agreements, according to the release.

It said Masoncup has focused on legislative drafting on major issues, complying with the Local Records Act and Open Meetings Act, negotiating agreements for municipal incentives for tax increment financing, creating special service taxing areas and drafting sales tax sharing agreements.

Masoncup has also served on a team bargaining labor agreements with unions representing city workers and overseen the litigation of a multimillion dollar environmental lawsuit filed by the city. Before joining the Evanston Law Department, Masoncup spent three years in private practice representing commercial real estate developers, municipalities and financial institutions, according to the city.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to lead the Evanston Law Department," Masoncup said.

Evanston's former corporation counsel Farrar departed in April to become a vice president of a public sector management consultancy based in Northbrook, where he now "serves a key role in procuring federal contracts and completing requirements for Women Owned Business designations at the city, state and federal levels," according to his online biography. It suggests he and his legal team saved the city more than $12 million in his eight years in charge of the law department, critics have contended he embroiled the city in costly suits by pursued overly aggressive and oftentimes losing legal strategies.

The city's aforementioned suit against a gas company for polluting James Park had, as of January 2018, cost the city more than $2.8 million in legal fees, it spent well over $1 million in legal fees and judgments combined for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act despite a federal judge repeatedly suggested settling the case and it took close to $1 million in combined outside legal fees and a settlement payment to end a former public works director's federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination by Bobkiewicz, the Evanston RoundTable has reported. Farrar announced his resignation in February.

Earlier: Corporation Counsel Grant Farrar Takes Job With Local Consulting Firm »