O’Rourke Mullins listed to become Ronan city attorney
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RONAN —The City of Ronan was expected to hire a third city attorney in less than a year’s time at a Monday council meeting.
Ronan attorney Kathleen O’Rourke Mullins was listed for hire on the town’s agenda as of press time.
Mayor Kim Aipperspach said the city’s decision to obtain new counsel came after a mutual agreement with Jessica Cole-Hodgkinson who has served as city attorney since July 22.
“We talked to her about it and thought it was (in) the mutual interest (for) everybody to get someone who had more time,” Aipperspach said.
Cole-Hodgkinson also works full-time as deputy Lake County attorney. During her five-month tenure, Cole-Hodgkinson helped the city work through non-compliance concerns about the police department’s reserve officer program and legally separating the Ronan Library District from the city. She was also asked to re-write the city’s vicious animal and beautification ordinances.
Prior to Cole-Hodgkinson, James Raymond served in the position from 2006 until 2013.
According to O’Rourke Mullins’s webpage, she graduated with honors from the University of Montana School of Law in 1990. Her first job as an attorney was as a prosecutor in the Lake County attorney’s office. She established a private practice in 1995.
O’Rourke Mullins unsuccessfully ran for Lake County Justice of the Peace in 2012.
