New Las Vegas city attorney appointed by City Council

Las Vegas has completed the promotion of its new legal chief.

The City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve Deputy City Attorney Jeff Dorocak’s employment contract as the next city attorney.

Dorocak will replace Bryan Scott, who is retiring from the city after 27 years.

“I’m honored and I’m humbled by the responsibility and confidence you’re placing in me with the appointment today,” Dorocak told the council after Mayor Carolyn Goodman swore him into the position.

“In my estimation, 650,000 Las Vegans don’t care that I’ll be the city attorney,” he added. “But they do care that I lead an effective and efficient city attorney’s office that wisely advises their elected representatives, defends their tax dollars and deals with misdemeanors in the city.”

Dorocak will earn a yearly base salary of $250,000, according to a copy of his contract agreement.

The four-year contract will automatically renew for two additional years unless the City Council decides otherwise.

After stints in the city of Henderson and the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Dorocak arrived at the city of Las Vegas in 2014.

He’s a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and obtained his law degree from Ohio State University.

A plethora of city employees showed up to the City Hall chambers to support Dorocak, Scott, and City Manager Jorge Cervantes, who attended his last meeting before he, too, retires.

Goodman also announced that Lisa Morris Hibbler, the city’s chief community services officer, had retired Tuesday. The official had expressed interest in the city manager’s position, and the mayor and Councilman Cedric Crear had expressed their support.

But the council instead voted for Mike Janssen, the former infrastructure director.

The council has mentioned that the city is going through a “silver tsunami,” in which several top officials are nearing retirement.

“After many years of devotion and service, and caring for our community, many of our senior-most servants have decided it’s time to retire and smell the roses,” Goodman said. “Although we up here keep telling them we have tons of roses for them to smell, and we feel heartbroken, but yet we’re so grateful for their service.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow @rickytwrites on Twitter.