Mayor Justin Elicker has picked a nearly two-decade veteran of the city’s Corporation Counsel office to serve as New Haven’s acting top attorney. According to the city’s most recent personnel report, Elicker appointed Roderick Williams as acting corporation counsel, effective Jan. 10. W illiams steps into a role recently vacated by Pat King, who resigned as the city’s top lawyer on Jan. 9 after six years on the job. Williams most recently worked as deputy corporation counsel in charge of litigation and land-use work, including by staffing the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) and City Plan Commission. He’s worked for New Haven’s corporation counsel’s office since 2007, when he was hired as a litigator and was assigned to the police department and traffic and parking. “Rod’s been doing this work for a long time. I have seen on many occasions the quality of his work,” Elicker said when asked why he appointed Williams to serve as acting corporation counsel. “He’s responsible, easy to work with. He’s hard working, works long hours, gets things done. [I’m] grateful he stepped up.” In a phone interview with the Independent, Williams said “it’s an honor” and “privilege” to be tapped for this acting corp counsel role, even though “it’s kind of a lot.” “It’s never short of variety. You never know what’s going to come through the door,” he said. “What I want to do is provide the support I can while the administration searches for the next” permanent corporation counsel. Williams said that, in his various roles in the department over the past two decades — from litigator up to deputy corporation counsel assigned to, say, the BZA — “you really have a little bit more of a narrow field that you’re working in.” As acting corporation counsel, you’ve got to support “the entire city, and any potential legal issue that comes in is so much more varied.” Asked about the city’s various ongoing lawsuits against the Trump administration, Williams said that those cases are ongoing. The city is represented by outside firms in those cases. Typically, there’s “a lot of work up front” for his office when the city is signing on to cases like those. There’s “less intensive fact gathering now.” “It’s very important to the city and to the people” of New Haven, he added about those lawsuits. As for the city’s search for a new permanent replacement for King, Elicker noted that the city has posted the position on its job application portal, and that he’ll be interviewing applicants as resumes come in.  1 Week, 2 “Acting” Appointments Williams isn’t the only acting department head whose appointment is included in the city’s Jan. 9 personnel report. That same document also notes Police Chief Karl Jacobson’s retirement and Assistant Police Chief David Zannelli’s appointment as acting chief. (Click here, here, and here to read more about how Jacobson’s retirement followed his alleged admission to stealing $10,000 from a fund meant for confidential informants.) Asked about two acting department head appointments — for corp counsel and for police chief — included in one week’s personnel report, Elicker noted that King’s resignation as the city’s top lawyer “was obviously an expected departure. She and I have been in talks about her retirement for some time.” Zannelli’s appointment as acting chief, meanwhile, “was not planned at all.” Elicker noted that department heads typically serve four-year terms, so it’s not surprising that there’s some turnover at the end of those terms. And “while the leadership of the departments is always important, there’s hundreds and hundreds of people doing work for the city every day” that make city departments work. One acting appointment not included in the Jan. 9 personnel report is for fire chief. While John Alston is still the city’s fire chief, he plans to retire at the end of the month — likely meaning that another acting appointment for a city department will be coming soon. Asked on Monday if he knows who he will be appointing as acting fire chief upon Alston’s retirement, Elicker replied, “Not yet.” The post Williams Tapped As Acting Corp Counsel appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less