Outside looking in and possibly missing something here, if I were to call this attorney asking questions about a mayor/council decision, does Langley get billed for it? And then it's Langley's job to forward the itemized cost to me?

What is this lawyer doing billing the city for an inquiry made to him by an outside party to begin with?

Why did the city take it upon themselves to bill the newspaper when they should have given the charge back to the lawyer and let him try to collect the $64 himself?

It seems if an outside party wants to contact this attorney even over something the city did,  then why is the onus being placed on the city? This cost being claimed seems to be strictly between this lawyer and the Record.

Looks like that lawyer's weird decision to bill the city opened a can of worms.