Mayor Valerie Thomerson says the city council made a mistake by hiring her predecessor as a lobbyist.

She does not think the $19,000-per-year contract with former Mayor Mike Fina was justified and that Fina was hired in January simply because of his connections to the council.

“I would like to see the city utilize a grant writer rather than someone to just hobnob and rub elbows,” Thomerson said.

But Fina, a longtime government employee who now runs a government consulting firm in Cashion, says he's just trying to support the town that named its city hall after his dad, also a former mayor.