ROBERTSDALE, Alabama --- The City of Robertsdale will be changing the way it assigns attorneys for indigent cases.

At its meeting Monday morning, the Robertsdale City Council voted to approve a fixed contract with three attorneys, Patsy Johnson, Tom Birks and James “Jimbo” Coleman at a fee of $1,000 per month, or $36,000 per year.

A system for reimbursing attorneys for indigent cases has been in place since the mid-1990s, said City Attorney Ken Raines, who also serves as the prosecuting attorney for the city’s municipal court.

In the past, attorneys were assigned on a case-by-case basis. The attorneys would bill the city for a set fee, which has been designated by the state at $75 per hour. The city would then be reimbursed by the “fair trial tax,” a $16 fee that is paid on each ticket.

“Up until now the city has never been in the red on this,” Raines said. “However, indigent cases have become someone of an epidemic, especially in some of the larger municipalities and that is also being felt here.”

While the pay per hour is limited, the number of hours an attorney can bill is not, said Mayor Charles Murphy. For 2012, the city was reimbursed $46,000 through the “fair trial tax” but has spent $54,000, leaving the city to pay the balance of $8,000.

Under the new system, the city can be reimbursed up to the $36,000 they spend on public defenders. Any amount collected over that amount would have to be returned to the state.

The new system will put a limit on what the city can be billed and limit the number of attorneys handling indigent cases.

“As a prosecutor it’s so much easier to deal with three people,” Raines said. “Under the old system I’d be dealing with 20 to 25 attorneys. That’s 20 to 25 different personalities, some I know, some I don’t. What we’re seeing in this tough economy is that attorneys are coming over from Mobile to Robertsdale’s Municipal Court, hoping to get assignments, so increasingly we are getting attorneys who are not from here and don’t normally doing business here coming over and taking cases.”

The item was approved unanimously Monday by the City Council with all Council members present.

In other business Monday, the Council approved a pair of Resolutions pertaining to a $165,938 Hazard Mitigation Grant from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency to be used for the installation of a generator at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

The grant requires a 25 percent match provided by the city, part of which can be made up of in-kind services.

The Council unanimously approved Resolution No. 018-12 accepting the grant and authorizing Mayor Charles Murphy to execute the grant.

They also approved Resolution No. 019-12 contracting for grant administration with Premier Grants Consulting Inc. of Fairhope at a cost of $11,250, which is included in the grant proposal.

In other business Monday the Council:

• Approved a request from the Robertsdale Elementary School Pier Helper program to provide academic award certificates given every six weeks for students at a cost of $500.

• Approved a request from the Robertsdale High School athletic department to donate a free day at the Baldwin County Coliseum to hold a banquet for all fall sports to be held sometime in November.

• Voted to reappoint Nell Calloway and Sonja Connor to the city’s Park & Street Tree Committee.

• Approved a bid for a new garbage truck from Empire Truck Sales at a cost of $168,784.

• Authorized Murphy to submit to the Alabama Department of Transportation for a traffic light to be placed on Highway 59 at County Road 48. Several accidents have been reported at the intersection, Murphy said.