First in-house attorney marks milestone for Queen Creek

As Queen Creek celebrates its 36th year, it has hired its first in-house attorney — a mark of the legal intricacies the town faces as it grows.

“It is part of an evolution, and I think it speaks a lot to the complexity of the things that we’re dealing with and all of the issues at hand in a very high-growth community,” Mayor Julia Wheatley said in interview before she announced she was taking a leave of absence until the end of fall. “We always say that Queen Creek is hitting above our weight class. We need someone full-time to be here with all of these development agreements and contracts.”

At its Sept. 3 meeting, the council voted to approve an employment agreement with current Florence Town Attorney Clifford Mattice. He officially begins work on Oct. 6.

“We’re probably one of the largest cities in the Valley that still contracts their legal services,” Town Manager Bruce Gardner said. “It’s just kind of the process that we go through. We did this with the utilities department, we did this with fire, and most recently, as you know, with our police department.”

Since incorporation in 1989, Queen Creek has had a contractual relationship with Dickinson Wright. The firm’s Scott Holcomb is currently handling town attorney duties.

The creation of a town attorney’s office was included in the $627.7 million 2025-26 fiscal year budget passed in May.

The new town attorney’s office is budgeted at $1.1 million. Along with the town attorney, the office will have two assistant town attorneys and a legal assistant. Gardner said he expects the office to be fully staffed by June 2026.

Dickinson Wright will be working with Mattice to transition the town into an in-house attorney model.

While going in-house has added a new department to Queen Creek’s government, it will also create more efficiencies, Gardner said.

“With the contract firm you get a certain number of hours. With in-house individuals that are in the office you get more hours out of them,” he said. “Over time (the office’s budget) just depends on how fast we grow, but our (legal services) contract grows every year, as well. So, it will be similar costs, but the hours will be more efficiently used. We’ll have individuals on site that the council and the staff can rely on for a more immediate kind of response.”

Mattice’s job entails providing legal guidance to the council, departments, directors, commissions and boards. Among the top issues Mattice will be dealing with are land purchases, development and water rights.

“We’re always on the on the leading edge as far as water policy and this will just help us that much more,” Wheatley said.

Mattice, who graduated in 1993 from what it now known as the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, has been signed to a three-year contract at a salary of $230,000 a year. He formerly worked for Dickinson Wright and was hired by the town of Florence in July 2015. He also worked for the city of Tempe.

“I’m honored to join the town of Queen Creek as its first in-house town attorney, bringing my experience to support our council and citizens as our community grows,” Mattice stated in a town press release. “This new chapter offers a unique opportunity to build a collaborative legal team from the ground up, ensuring that our expanding town is guided by sound, proactive counsel.”

The opportunity to build a new department from the ground up was a lure to “get some really good candidates” to apply for the position, Gardner said.

“The fact that we are in a growth period, that we have new departments, a new police department, and continued growth in our commercial area — to be involved in a growing community is an aspect in itself that draws these candidates,” Gardner said.

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