City’s assistant attorney nabs nat’l award
White named Young Public Lawyer of Year
Assistant City Attorney Dan White knew something was up when his relatives started showing up for the Yuma City Council meeting the evening of Sept. 20.
“They’re not active people after 6 o’clock,” he quipped.
White had been invited to lead in the Pledge of Allegiance before the meeting, but he didn’t know that he would be recognized for receiving an award — a prestigious national award.
City Administrator Greg Wilkinson announced that White is the recipient of the International Municipal Lawyers Association Young Public Lawyer of the
Year award for 2017. The official announcement will be made at IMLA’s annual conference in October.
“We are honored when our employees receive awards, however, we have received word that an employee has been selected for a prestigious national award,” Wilkinson said.
Nominees for this award must exhibit a high level of professionalism and exemplary integrity, diligence and personal conduct.
The criteria for the award includes a dedication of service to the public, a commitment to the employee’s profession and contributions to the profession that exceed the employee’s occupational duties.
One of the nominations noted that “Dan’s sincere concern for others propel him to commit his time, effort and expertise on issues for the benefit of municipalities.” It also stated that “his success is due to his honesty, trustworthiness and persistence, which is clearly recognized by legislators and staff.”
Wilkinson noted that “a lot of things are happening on the economic development side. This past year we were very successful up at the Legislature stopping a few things that would have hurt us,” including a bill that would have precluded Yuma from becoming a smart city.
Wilkinson also pointed out something that has been keeping White busy. “We started to becoming recognized as one of the most business friendly cities in this region. We’ve implemented a whole bunch of things that have helped with that. One of the things that can be the most difficult is working through legal agreements.
“On the legal side, sometimes if you’ve ever been between two sets of lawyers, (you’ve seen) how long it can take to get it worked out. But (White) has helped us work through a lot of those things. It can be pretty difficult, but we’ve done that.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, White drafts and negotiates contracts for city departments; consults and advises city employees regarding procurement issues and potential legal issues; consults with city employees regarding state legislative activities; and reviews and drafts local ordinances, resolutions and motions.
White was “a natural choice for this distinguished award as he is under 40, is the designated city lobbyist and is a very effective member of the Yuma City Attorney’s Office,” Wilkinson said.
A surprised White was asked to join Wilkinson and Deputy Mayor Gary Knight at the podium.
“Thank you. I am honored by the award,” White said. “Lobbying is not something I love to do, but we have a lot of noble things we lobby for and this year was a great year on behalf of the city, and we’ll see what we can keep doing to make sure our interests are represented well at the state.
“As Greg mentioned, being an attorney and working with staff is some of the most joyous and difficult things but we all work together to do our best and make sure we do it with the best foot forward that we can.”
White has been with the city since July 2014. Before that he served as deputy attorney for the Yuma County Attorney’s Office for just over two years.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a law degree from the Arizona State University College of Law. He served as president of the Yuma County Bar Association in 2015.