Megan Navarro
DRIPPING SPRINGS — Dripping Springs City Council approved the appointment of Aniz Alani as the new city attorney during its Nov. 18 meeting. This follows the resignation of Laura Mueller, who served as the city attorney for Dripping Springs for five years.
Alani served as the deputy city attorney for Dripping Springs since last year. Before then, he was the city attorney for Abbotsford, British Columbia — a 145-square mile community of approximately 165,000 residents bordering Washington state — from 2017-2024.
During his time in Abbotsford, according to his consideration letter, he built the in-house legal department, served on the Strategic Leadership Team, regularly covered as acting city manager and expanded his managerial oversight to include code enforcement of approximately 25 officers, real estate services, risk management, legislative services/city clerk (including elections), open records, records management and the city hall reception/mailroom — ultimately leading a highly engaged team of approximately 40 staff.
Additionally, he shared in the letter to Dripping Springs City Council, he has presented at numerous municipal law conferences and served in multiple capacities, including:
Presented at the 2025 State Bar of Texas’s Annual Advanced Government Law Conference
Presented at the 2024 and 2025 Texas City Attorneys’ Association’s fall conferences
Served on the Board of Directors and Governance Committee of E-Comm 9-1-1 — British Columbia’s largest provider of emergency communications and first-responder dispatch
Currently serves on the State Bar of Texas’ Laws Related to Immigration and Nationality Committee
As deputy city attorney for Dripping Springs, he has advised council, boards and staff across ordinances, contracts, land use, procurement, compliance, open records and code enforcement support, he shared, as well as regularly prepared staff reports, developed guidance memos and templates and coordinated across departments to keep work moving. This has all been done with the hands-on training and coaching in Texas municipal law from Mueller, the outgoing city attorney.
“He has great experience and he has been great to work with. Currently, he is one of the few attorneys I have worked with who is able to complete as much work as I am able to complete in the time we have allotted,” Mueller said. “So, I highly recommend that he be appointed.”
Mayor Bill Foulds said he thinks the council and city are in great hands, while also recognizing that Mueller “did a good job training in a short amount of time, but he didn’t need a lot of training.”
The appointment of Alani to city attorney was unanimous by council.
While Mueller has submitted her resignation from employment with the city, she has indicated her willingness to continue providing legal services to support an orderly transition in the City Attorney’s Office. In doing so, council unanimously approved a professional services agreement between the city and Mueller for her legal services.
The agreement will allow her to provide legal services as an independent contractor through Jan. 2, 2026.
This was brought forward in order to preserve continuity of legal advice on matters that Mueller has been handling, ensure coverage for December 2025 meetings, including city council and Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ), as requested, and provide staff with access to her subject-matter knowledge of ongoing land use, contract and municipal governance matters, while the City Attorney’s Office completes its staffing transition, according to agenda documents.
“This agreement reflects her very gracious offer to continue to support the city as an independent contractor,” Alani said.
According to the agreement, the city will compensate Mueller with a lump sum payment of $2,500 for general legal services and $125 per hour for special legal services.
General includes: response to emails, phone calls and other forms of communication from the city attorney, city administrator, mayor and other city staff; review of agendas for the city council and TIRZ meetings in December 2025; and attendence of TIRZ meetings before Jan. 2. Special services include document review, drafting and legal research.
“We’ve been very lucky to have you with us,” council member Taline Manassian said to Mueller, “and I am glad you are going to be continuing with us in some capacity.”
“I am really excited to continue helping and … [be] part of it. I’m excited to help with the TIRZ and there will be some land use projects that I am going to help with,” Mueller said. “Thank you for letting me continue.”
Staff anticipates that a further professional services agreement will be brought to council for consideration before the expiration to provide for continued legal services after Jan. 2.
Dripping Springs City Council meets next at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2.
