The city of Arnold has new legal representation.
Council members voted 6-1 on Oct. 1 to name the Wegmann Law Firm of Hillsboro as the city’s legal counsel and appoint Mark Bishop, one of Wegmann’s partners, as the city’s attorney.
Arnold had been represented by the Sweeney Law Firm of Hillsboro, with Bob Sweeney serving as the city’s attorney.
“I had a better feeling about the Wegmann Law Firm, and I have met Mark before and he has always answered my questions promptly,” Mayor Bill Moritz said of nominating Wegmann and Bishop. “I didn’t have anything against the other firms, but I wanted to keep something in Jefferson County. I just felt the Wegmann Law Firm was the way to go forward.”
Arnold will pay Wegmann $190 per hour for legal services for the rest of this year, and the cost per hour will increase by $5 each Jan. 1 starting on Jan. 1, 2027, according to council documents. The city paid the Sweeney Law Firm $170 per hour for legal counsel.
Sweeney, whose firm also includes his daughter Allison Sweeney, had been Arnold’s attorney since September 2010, when he was reappointed to the role after briefly being removed from the position in December 2009. Before that he had been Arnold’s city attorney for 17 years.
Ward 4 Councilman Brad Cary voted against hiring Wegmann as Arnold’s legal counsel, and Ward 4 Councilman Michael Rethmeyer abstained from voting.
Cary told council members he voted against hiring Wegmann and appointing Bishop because the firm had provided legal counsel for the city before during the brief period that Sweeney was not Arnold’s attorney.
He also said he did not believe Wegmann, which lists having four attorneys working at the firm, and Bishop will be able to handle the amount of work Arnold requires its lawyers to handle.
“We must learn from the past rather than repeating structural cycles that failed to provide long-term stability,” Cary said. “Even under the current Sweeney arrangement, where two attorneys are handling the load, we have experienced times where they fell short of the heavy demands for prompt responses, document reviews and meeting attendance.
“Out of the candidates brought forward, expecting a single person-at-large to manage our city’s massive volume of municipal codes, development projects and zoning matters while also balancing external workloads outside of Arnold creates an unsustainable situation that risks delayed service to our taxpayers.”
Rethmeyer told the council he abstained because he only attended one of the three interviews with the three final candidates to provide legal services.
“I don’t feel comfortable saying yes or no,” Rethmeyer said.
Bishop has been an attorney since 1996 and joined Wegmann in 2007, according to the firm’s website, wegmannlawfirm.com. He and the firm also serve as legal counsel for the cities of Bloomsdale, De Soto, Herculaneum, Hillsboro, Kimmswick and Ste. Genevieve.
“I am happy to have the opportunity, and I am looking forward to taking over and providing excellent legal service to the city of Arnold,” Bishop said.
The decision to find new legal counsel was one of seven steps the mayor said the city would take following a blistering audit report that was released by the Missouri State Auditor’s Office on April 6.
The report gave Arnold and the Arnold Retail Corridor and Triangle transportation development districts the lowest possible rating of “poor” and there were numerous conflicts of interest, a lack of transparency and an effort by the city to derail the audit process.
The city and TDDs were audited after a proposed 2-mile, two-lane road between Hwy. 141 and Richardson Road, which was to be called the Arnold Parkway, sparked outrage from residents.
The road project, which was announced and abandoned in August 2024, was projected to cost about $75 million and required the TDD to buy 38 homes in the Key West Estates subdivision, multiple businesses and a portion of the Water Tower Place Shopping Center.
The shopping plaza owners filed a lawsuit against the city to stop the acquisition of some of their property and the proposed road.
According to court documents, a pre-trial conference in the case is scheduled for Sept. 10, 2027, and a three-day jury trial is scheduled to be held Sept. 14-16, 2027, in Jefferson County.
The Water Tower lawsuit is one of the four active lawsuits the city has retained the Sweeney Law Firm to be special counsel. Council documents listed nine legal matters, which includes the active lawsuits, that the Sweeney Law Firm will be retained as special counsel to handle for the city.
City Administrator Anthony Traxler said Arnold will pay the Sweeney Law Firm $170 per hour to continue as special counsel for the nine legal matters listed in council documents.
“He is in the middle of them already,” Moritz said of retaining the Sweeney Law Firm. “Why would we pay two firms and one guy to relearn what Bob already knows? Let Bob finish those jobs.”
Moritz said Sweeney has been a trusted adviser and treated Arnold properly.
“Everyone is trying to say Bob is not the best attorney,” Moritz said. “How many times has Bob gone out and won for this city. The Home Depot, Target and shopping center (that are off Vogel Road) wouldn’t have taken place without Bob. Those are cornerstones of that part of our town, and that was all Bob Sweeney. He has helped with annexations.
“Bob Sweeney is a good and gifted municipal attorney. The man won for us.”
The search
Moritz announced on April 16 that Arnold would seek a new attorney.
On Oct. 1, City Administrator Anthony Traxler said seven law firms and two individual attorneys submitted proposals to provide legal services. City officials previously said the Sweeney Law Firm did not submit a proposal to continue as Arnold’s legal counsel.
Traxler said an interview committee made up of city employees, City Council members and the mayor was formed to narrow the candidates to six firms or attorneys.
The committee then interviewed the six candidates before submitting a list of three finalists, which were interviewed by City Council members.
Moritz said the interview committee was made up of himself, councilmen Troy Blacksher (Ward 1), Rodney Mullins (Ward 3) and Matt Saller (Ward 3), Arnold Police Chief Brian Carroll, Bob Sweeney and Traxler.
“I was satisfied with the process,” Moritz said of the search. “It was not unlike what we did when we searched for a city administrator. I was very pleased with Matt, Rodney and Troy. I thought they did the job very well. They asked some really good questions.”
On Oct. 1, Ward 2 Councilman Michael Rother said the final three candidates were Wegmann, the Thurman Law Firm of Hillsboro and Bruntrager and Billings of St. Louis. He said Wegmann was his first choice to represent the city.
“This was an extremely close decision,” Rother said. “My recommendation was based primarily on a fiscal responsibility, transparency and accessibility, and Wegmann’s long-standing history and experience with Jefferson County.
“I believe Wegmann will be responsible and accessible to the needs of our city, while providing excellent legal representation and counsel.”
On Oct. 1, Ward 1 Councilman EJ Fleischmann said Wegmann was not his first choice, but he said he is ready to move forward with the new legal counsel.
“We had some great candidates, and it was a tough decision,” he said. “We are ready for a different perspective and new ideas. Moving forward, I am looking forward to a new direction.”