Durango City Council appointed an interim city attorney on Thursday after longtime attorney Dirk Nelson’s sudden resignation earlier this week.
The council met in an executive session Thursday afternoon to discuss Nelson’s resignation, the option to appoint Tony Maestas to an interim role and the search for a long-term city attorney. City Council members voted unanimously to appoint Maestes to the interim role, with the exception of Councilor Olivier Bosmans, who was not in attendance.
Councilor Kim Baxter said the city is “very fortunate” to have Maestes ready and willing to take on the interim role in Nelson’s unexpected absence. Councilor Melissa Youssef echoed similar thoughts.
City Council also directed staff members to search for candidates to serve long-term as the next city attorney.
Maestes is from Minnesota and is an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, Tom Sluis, spokesman for the city, said in an email to The Durango Herald after City Council’s executive session. He spent three years in the U.S. Navy before studying political science at the University of Minnesota-Morris. He earned his law degree from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers Law College in 2012.
In 2015, Maestes moved to Bayfield to represent the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Sluis said. He also served as a legal aid at DNA-People’s Legal Services in Farmington and as a public defender in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and Sisseton, South Dakota.
On Wednesday afternoon, the city of Durango announced in a news release that Nelson, the former city attorney, had filed a notice of resignation, effective immediately. Nelson said in his notice he is “currently unable to perform the essential functions of his position,” according to the release.
cburney@durangoherald.com
