NAMPA — The city of Nampa recently hired an assistant city attorney: Blair Larsen.
Nampa’s City Attorney Preston Rutter seems to be pretty glad to not only fill the role, but to hire one with Larsen’s skills.
Rutter spoke Tuesday night of Larsen’s hiring and his experience.
“Hiring a municipal attorney is not an easy task,” Rutter said. “It is a subset of a subset of skills. They are not prolific. They are not ambulance chasers — all apologies to those who have relatives who do that, (but) they’re a dime a dozen, (and) I say that with respect. But it’s not common to find a municipally trained attorney. Blair fits that bill.”
According to Rutter, Larsen has 17 years of local government experience, a Juris Doctor and a Master’s in Public Administration — specifically city management.
“And for those listening and watching, you think of businesses as being large corporations,” Rutter said. “This is a $300 million municipal corporation with 800 employees and 35 departments. You want to have people who are well-trained in that field to know how to operate it. Blair comes with that experience, he can speak more to it from a budget and economic development standpoint. He really understands the big picture, the rhythm, the life-cycles of issues you see in a large municipal organization.”
Clay Long, Nampa’s chief of staff, explained the importance of hiring Larsen to the assistant city attorney position.
“Having in-house counsel allows the city to stretch our limited resources further and allows for the attorney to be more engaged with the guidance they’re providing,” Long said in a messages to the Idaho Press. “We are excited to have Blair join the team.”
Larsen’s position was funded to continue the city’s transition of out-of-house counsel to in-house counsel, according to a city spokesperson.
Long, who introduced Larsen to members of the public, addressed Nampa City Council about the hiring and what it took to fill the position.
“We’re excited. I know Preston is probably the most excited one,” Long said. “But for council, just as a recap, we brought Preston on and moved legal to in-house about a year and a half ago-ish. Last fall, we posted a staff attorney position, utilizing our contract dollars to continue moving that in-house. We had a failed search the first time. We posted again. I don’t think any of the first candidates are here, so I think we got a better candidate the second time anyway.”
Larsen also spoke about getting started in Nampa. After graduating from BYU Law School, he worked in a few states, with stops in Arizona, Florida and, most recently, Sweet Home, Oregon. He’s “happy” to be working for Idaho’s third-largest city.
With “most of” his wife’s family nearby, it sounds like he’ll be here for a while. He shared a little bit about his background.
“I’ve spent the last 17 years as a budget analyst first. And then I’ve also served as a community and economic development director and a city manager and city attorney,” Larsen said. “I’m happy to be here, excited to dive in. I’ve enjoyed the work so far, and I’m excited to see even more.”
Mayor Darl Bruner commented briefly on Larsen joining the in-house legal team, then jabbed him with a joke that was well-received.
“We welcome you and we appreciate you here,” Bruner said. “The only downside is I’ve had to cut back on my attorney jokes.”
“You know what, I appreciate those jokes as well,” Larsen said.