Legal Department

The City of Des Moines Legal Department represents the City Council and the various 
municipal Boards and Commissions.  In addition, the Legal Department also represents 
City employees in work-related litigation.

The Department is headed by the City Attorney, Bruce E. Bergman, who is appointed 
by the Council.

The Department is made up of three Divisions - Infrastructure, Intergovernmental 
and Litigation - each of which is supervised by a Deputy City Attorney.

The Infrastructure Division is primarily responsible for legal work related to the Aviation, Engineering and Public Works Departments.

The Intergovernmental Programs and Urban Development and Zoning Division
provides legal services to most of the other City Departments, including
Community Development, Office of Economic Development, Housing Services, Park and Recreation and Finance.

The Litigation Division provides courtroom representation to all City Departments,
prosecutes traffic tickets and municipal misdemeanors and prosecutes civil code 
enforcement cases.  The Division also provides advice to the Police and Human 
Resources Departments.

The Municipal Code of the City of Des Moines is available online. It is fully searchable and downloadable. The Code is maintained by an organization called the Municipal Code Corporation on a website that contains many other municipal codes as well.

 

Phone Numbers and Fax Numbers

City Attorney Office
Administrative Matters

Phone: (515) 283-4130
Fax: (515) 237-1643

Litigation Matters

Phone: (515) 283-4564
Fax: (515) 237-1748


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