Clift is looking forward to new legal post

A new city attorney is virtually certain to be approved Tuesday.
Mayor Art Ward said Monday that he is asking the City Council to back the appointment of Wyland Dale Clift as the city’s new corporate counsel.
Clift, a longtime assistant city lawyer, would take the top job from Edward Krawiecki, Jr, a holdover from the administration of former Mayor Bill Stortz.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be great,” said Clift, 55.
Ward, a Democrat, said that he and Krawiecki, a Republican, agreed early on that they “would go through the transition together.”
“It’s been very fruitful,” Ward said, but Krawiecki wanted to devote his attention to his private practice, clearing the way for Clift to move up.
Ward said that Clift will actually take the office on May 12 so that he and Krawiecki can work side-by-side for a few weeks “to get acclimated to all the issues.”
Clift, who is not particularly tight with Ward, said he will work hard in the part-time job and give the mayor and city leaders the best advice possible.
He said that it helps to have such a wealth of experience in the city attorney’s office, including two veteran full-time lawyers, Ann Baldwin and Richard Lacey. There is also another part-timer, Jeff Steeg, who tends to specialize in real estate issues.
“We tend to do things in a collegial way,” Clift said, and that won’t change.
Steeg and Clift are partners in a general practice downtown law firm they opened in 2004.
Ward said that he plans soon to interview some candidates to fill the part-time assistant city attorney that Clift will be giving up. It’s possible, he said, that a Republican lawyer could get the post.
Ward said that Krawiecki “was very impartial” in giving advice and never played politics.
“He’s very astute, very professional and very complete in everything he does,” Ward said.
Clift began working as a city lawyer about 11 years ago and has done considerable work with ordinance issues, real estate and contracts.
He is a Penn State graduate who earned his law degree from the University of Connecticut in 1984. Clift worked as a probation officer before law school and for the American Radio Relay League while he was studying law.
After becoming a lawyer, Clift worked for a firm in Hartford before leaving to found Nutmeg Community Access Television in 1991. He served as its director until 2004.
Clift is married and has a son at Memorial Boulevard School.


*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com