(A) Creation and composition. There is hereby created an executive department of the municipal government of the Village which shall be known as the Department of Law and which shall embrace the Corporation Counsel and such assistants and clerks as may be provided for in the annual appropriation ordinance and the Prosecuting Attorney.
(B) Corporation Counsel appointment. There is hereby created the office of Corporation Counsel, an executive office of the Village. The Corporation Counsel shall be appointed by the Village President, with the consent of the Board of Trustees, and shall be the head of the Department of Law of the Village.
(C) Duties. The Corporation Counsel shall perform the following duties:
(1) Superintend and, with their assistants and clerks, conduct all the law business of the Village;
(2) Appear for and protect the rights and interests of the Village in all actions, suits and proceedings brought by or against it or any Village officer, board, commission, or department, including actions for damages when brought against such officer in his official capacity;
(3) Attend all meetings of the Board of Trustees and all meetings of the Board of Local Improvements;
(4) Enforce all judgments or decrees rendered or entered in favor of the Village, and of all similar interlocutory orders, and to take such action as may be necessary to accomplish the same;
(5) Prepare for execution all contracts and instruments to which the Village is a party or otherwise interested in and shall approve, as to form, all bonds required to be submitted to the Village;
(6) Draft and prepare such ordinances and resolutions as may be required of them by the Board of Trustees or by any committee thereof;
(7) Attend to all suits, actions, matters and proceedings in which the Village may be legally interested.
(D) Duty to render advice. The Corporation Counsel shall be advisor to, and shall render advice on all legal questions affecting the Village whenever requested to do so by the President, the Board of Trustees, the Village Manager, and all other officers, boards, commissions and departments of the Village. Upon request, they shall reduce such opinion to writing. No officer, except the President, members of the Board of Trustees and the Manager shall request a legal opinion from the Corporation Counsel without first obtaining the consent of the Village Manager.
(E) Assistant Corporation Counsel. The Corporation Counsel may, at their sole discretion and choice, employ an assistant to aid and assist the Corporation Counsel in performing the duties required of them and who shall be known as the Assistant Corporation Counsel and shall be the acting head of the Department of Law in the absence of the Corporation Counsel.
(F) Special assessment and condemnation proceedings. It shall be the duty of the Corporation Counsel to carry through to completion all special assessment proceedings and condemnation proceedings for which he shall receive additional compensation based upon the fair and reasonable value of his services.
(G) Compensation. The compensation of the Corporation Counsel shall be as fixed by the President and Board of Trustees and if no such compensation is fixed, he shall be entitled to the fair and reasonable value for his services.
(H) Prosecuting Attorney appointment.
(1) There is hereby created the office of Prosecuting Attorney, to be appointed by the Village Manager. The compensation of the Prosecuting Attorney shall be fixed at the time of such appointment, and he shall perform such services to the Village as may be prescribed by the Village Manager.
(2) The bond of the Prosecuting Attorney shall be fixed by the Board at the time of his appointment.
(3) The Prosecuting Attorney shall prosecute all ordinance violations and appeals thereof to which the Village may be a party or in which it may be interested. He shall also perform such other and further legal services as the Village Manager may direct.
(1997 Code, § 3.05) (Ord. 60-10, passed 7-28-1960)