For the second time in less than a year, Dillon has had the law firm serving as its town attorney submit a resignation letter.

Town attorney Erica Romberg, of Wilson Williams Fellman Dittman, wrote to the Dillon Town Council late last month tendering her resignation effective April 30, according to a copy of the resignation letter Summit Daily News obtained through a public records request. 

In the letter, Romberg cited a breakdown of communication and trust with the town’s planning department as the reason for her resignation.

“Throughout our representation of the Town, despite our best efforts, we have been unable to establish a full and functional working relationship with certain Town departments, most notably the planning department,” Romberg wrote. “These issues have caused permanent, irreconcilable conflicts between our office and the Town, including a lack of communication and cooperation which has caused a distinct lack of trust on our end.”

In the about eight months that Wilson Williams Fellman Dittman has served as town attorney, Dillon has had two special elections: one for a referendum vote that overturned a major development proposal and one that recalled and replaced three council members.

In that time, the town has also received several significant development proposals from Developer Jake Porritt, including a building with a grocery store, restaurant, commercial space and parking garage at the corner of Lake Dillon Drive and East La Bonte Street and a workforce housing building with retail on the first floor at the southwest corner of Buffalo Street and Lake Dillon Drive.

Dillon Town Manager Nathan Johnson told Summit Daily last week that “from my standpoint, we’ve always had a great relationship” with Wilson Williams Fellman Dittman. Johnson said that “while the town of Dillon is not perfect, we don’t necessarily agree with what they’ve put in their letter.” He declined to elaborate.

Romberg wrote in the resignation letter that the law firm has “regularly been left out of critical conversations between Town staff and outside actors regarding Town projects which has resulted in not being fully informed of key information and not being timely informed of on-going project deadlines.

“This situation has led to our office having to deal with a great deal of fall out as we have been unable to work with the emergency timelines the lack of communication has created,” Romberg said. “Professional legal counsel requires mutual trust and clear communication between attorney and client. When these foundational elements are compromised, it becomes difficult to provide the quality of representation that the Town deserves and that our professional ethics demand.”

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At its meeting Tuesday, April 8, the Dillon Town Council voted unanimously to approve an engagement letter appointing Collins Cole Winn & Ulmer PLLC as the interim town attorney. The council members discussed a potential six- to nine-month interim term for the law firm with the possibility of hiring it on a more permanent basis after that time.

Dillon hired Wilson Williams Fellman Dittman after its previous attorney, Kelly P.C., who had served in the position for six years, submitted its resignation following a council vote, which was later overturned, to allow a church to use the town’s amphitheater. The vote went against Kelly P.C.’s legal advice that such a move could violate the U.S. Constitution’s separation of church and state.

Wilson Williams Fellman Dittman did not return a request for comment for this article. Dillon Mayor Carolyn Skowyra also did not return a request for comment.