Marthasville has a new city attorney.At the April 20 board of aldermen meeting, the board unanimously voted to end its relationship with Jamis Kresyman and hire Mark Piontek to serve as the new attorney.Piontek already has a relationship with the city. He was hired as an attorney to help the city progress on a stalled sewer project during a Jan. 20 closed meeting.At a March 30 meeting, Piontek was again hired as special counsel to represent Mayor David Lange and Aldermen Nick Lange and Dan Grafrath in an ethics complaint filed by City Clerk Carla Heggemann.Heggemann filed a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission against the three officials, but because Kresyman was listed as a witness in the complaint, the board granted Mayor Lange’s request for special counsel.Piontek, who also serves as city attorney for Washington and Augusta, is a member of the Lewis Rice law firm which is based in St. Louis and has an office in Washington.He was selected after two law firms vied to serve the city. At the March 16 meeting, the board agreed to seek requests for proposals for a new city attorney. Mayor Lange said the city received two requests.Piontek’s proposal offered a rate of $230 per hour.The other request came from the Washington-based law firm Zick, Voss, Politte & Richardson. The request said the firm charged $150 per hour, but also included a $1,500 monthly retainer.Mayor Lange said both were good firms, but the lack of the retainer and the city’s prior relationship worked in Piontek’s favor.Piontek started immediately and sat in an executive session Wednesday night. Lange said no action was taken and that the session was just to catch Piontek up on the city’s ongoing legal issues.City of Marthasville