Ames City Council held a short meeting Wednesday night that saw Mark Lambert appointed as Ames’ new city attorney.

Lambert has been the assistant city attorney in Ames since 2013. For the past five months he has served as interim city attorney. In the past, Lambert worked as an administrative law judge for the state of Iowa and was on the Iowa Utilities Board.

As city attorney, Lambert will be responsible for providing the city with legal counsel, reviewing contracts the city enters into and drafting ordinances for the city.

In terms of major pieces of work in the near future, Lambert brought up drafting ordinances relating to housing occupancy.

“I just want to give good legal advice, solid legal advice and also just represent the city well,” Lambert said.

Lambert requested the council give him two years to move to Ames, and plans on moving once his children finish school in Polk City, Iowa.

City Council member Tim Gartin shared that Lambert was chosen out of a nationwide search effort for the next city attorney.

“Mark was head and shoulders above the other candidates,” Gartin said. “Even though Mark was an internal candidate already, we wanted to make sure he was the right hire for us.”

Gartin feels this is an important position, as the city attorney is a point of contact for many citizens and organizations.

“The city attorney is a behind the scenes person… but the city attorney’s role is super important in order to make all of this function smoothly,” Gartin said.