Civic Duty

When Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor called upon Deirdre Dexter to assume the city attorney's job on an interim basis, Dexter jumped at the chance.

Knowing she would have to put her private law practice on hold for up to six months, Dexter - a longtime advocate of public service - was ready to accept the mayor's challenge.

Since reporting to work Dec. 4 as the interim city attorney, Dexter has been inundated with legal and administrative duties. In fact, she's been charged with reviewing and recommending changes to the city attorney's job description for her successor.

The call to public service happened so quickly Dexter had little, if any, time to develop expectations for the city attorney's role.

"From the time the mayor called to see if I would be interested to the time I reported to work on Dec. 4 was extremely short," Dexter said. "It happened so quickly I didn't have time to develop any expectations, which is probably good."

For the time being, Dexter replaces Alan Jackere who resigned as city attorney in December.

"Deirdre has strong community support, and I am pleased to have such a dedicated person with her integrity and broad experience working with the City of Tulsa," said Taylor. "We are fortunate that she is willing to put her private practice on hold in order serve the Tulsa community and I am pleased to have her on my management team."

Even though the job has brought challenges and hurdles into her life, Dexter is glad she made the decision to accept the mayor's call to service.

"I really enjoy my private practice but this has been a wonderful opportunity, and it was truly an honor to get that call from the mayor," she said. "I'm committed to public service and after losing in the general election, I see this as a way I can help benefit the public."

In November, Dexter lost a Tulsa County judicial race to Mary Fitzgerald, marking the second time she had lost in a bid to return to the bench. Dexter served as an associate district judge in Tulsa County from May 1, 2000 to mid-January 2003 when she was appointed to fill an unexpired term.

Dexter believes her time on the bench and her many years practicing law have provided her with the necessary skills to make a difference in her interim role as city attorney. She also learned quickly that the city attorney's duties are largely administrative.

"The thing I expected least is how administratively intense this position is. It's not as much about legal work as it is supervising the legal work done by others and interacting with other city departments. You definitely have to be able to multi-task and you must be organized," she said.

"I catch myself coming and going and that's why I have lots of 'to do' lists. You hang on to those lists and hope you get to mark a few of those things off at the end of the day."

The interim job has taken more out of her than she probably expected. Dexter begins a typical day around 8am and at times she finds herself at the office until 6:30 or 7pm still sorting through mounds of reports and other paperwork that must be checked. Then at home, the work continues as she reads through files while eating dinner.

"I don't think this is the type of position that stops when you leave the office, at least that's been the case for me," she said.

"There are entirely different laws that apply to what the city does, such as competitive bidding requirements and Open Records and Open Meetings laws. I knew there were laws governing municipalities, but actually living it the last two months is very different."

While Dexter was asked to serve as the interim city attorney for up to six months, she's currently in the middle of a process that city officials hope will make the legal department more effective for the people they represent. The first step in the search process for a new city attorney is to have all city department chiefs and city councilmen participate in a client survey.

"We want to know how they think the city attorney's office is doing, what can be done better and their ideas to fix problems," Dexter said. "We also want to be sure that our clients, who are the council and any city department, understand their relationship with the city attorney's office."

Some of the surveys, which were due back in Dexter's office last Friday, have shown a disconnect between the legal department and other city offices, she said.

"We've received good information that confirms some areas where we can better serve our clients," she said. "This survey information will also be helpful for whoever is hired to fill this position and it allows me to take some steps that would make their transition even easier."

City officials have not said when they hope to hire a new permanent city attorney.