The Vancouver City Council voted Monday to confirm Bronson Potter as the new city attorney.
Potter, 61, currently serves as chief assistant city attorney and had accepted City Manager Eric Holmes’ conditional job offer, pending council approval.
The vote was 5-0, as two councilors were absent.
Potter will replace Ted Gathe, who’s retiring July 31 after two decades as the city’s top attorney.
Gathe, 65, was promoted in 1994 to replace the late Jerry King. King was appointed in 1965 as the city’s first in-house attorney.
Potter’s annual salary will increase from $125,616 to $145,008.
Potter began working for the city last year after 22 years at the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office. In his last five years with the county he was chief civil deputy prosecutor and lead counsel to the Board of County Commissioners.
He also spent a dozen years in private practice.
Potter has a bachelor’s degree in social welfare from the University of California-Berkeley and earned his law degree from Lewis & Clark College’s Northwestern School of Law.
In addition to civil legal services, the Vancouver city attorney’s office has a criminal unit with attorneys who prosecute misdemeanor crimes committed within city limits.
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