Mattawa paying more to attorney
MATTAWA — Sums the city of Mattawa paid for the services of attorney Katherine Kenison have increased significantly.
The city’s payments to Kenison have varied widely month to month, but city records show costs for her legal work trending upward beginning in June 2020 and again in November 2020.
This year started out with relatively high sums paid to Kenison for legal work, according to records obtained from the city of Mattawa for 2018 through March 2021. The amount the city paid Kenison in just the first three months of 2021 was half of what it paid her for all of 2020 and only about $10,000 less than what she was paid for all of 2018 and again for all of 2019.
Kenison was paid a total of $34,840 for the first three months of 2021. All but $560 of that was labeled as being for legal services. The $560 was billed under union legal fees.
The average paid to Kenison each month for the first three months of 2021 was $11,613. That is double the average each month in 2020, which was $5,746.
The total spent on Kenison’s legal services in 2020 was $68,955. Of that, $60,015 was for general legal services, $3,344 related to civil service, $1,255 was union-related, $781 was for services related to sewer legal issues and $3,560 was for services related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By comparison, for 2019 the city of Mattawa paid Kenison $44,793. Only three categories, general legal services, civil service and union related, were used that year.
For 2018, Kenison was paid $44,689 and did work in the general legal services, civil service, union, water and sewer categories.
The average monthly sum for her legal work in 2018 and 2019 was approximately $3,728.
The numbers began to rise in June 2020. The average sum per month paid to Kenison for the first five months of the year was $4,140; the total was $20,700.
The next five months, June through October, had an average of $6,323, and a total of $31,615.
(In November 2020, the city paid Kenison $7,320 in legal fees and $9,320 in December – $16,640 in two months.)
During the next five months, November 2020 through March 2021, the sums averaged $10,296 per month, and totaled $51,480. That rise began in November with $7,320 paid and $9,320 in December.
January 2021’s total was $11,840.
February 2021’s total was $11,200.
March 2021’s total was $11,800.
Kenison and Mattawa Mayor Maggie Celaya were asked about the increase in legal costs, but they didn’t respond to emailed requests for information.
Of note, the Mattawa Wastewater Treatment Facility suffered a major fire in January 2020. The city council appointed a new mayor, Celaya, on Nov. 25, 2020.