The Cortez City Council appointed Jim Hatter on Tuesday night to be the interim city attorney while a drug and traffic case involving City Attorney Cliff Fossum works its way through the court system.

Fossum will be considered innocent until proven guilty, Cortez Mayor Joe Keck told audience members at the beginning of the Cortez City Council meeting Tuesday night.

Prior to the regularly scheduled city council meeting, council members met in executive session to discuss recent charges filed against Fossum. Fossum did not attend the meeting.

Charges against the city attorney include illegal use of a controlled substance — cocaine, DUI, careless driving and driving while his license was suspended. Fossum could be sentenced to up to three years in prison if convicted of the drug charge, a class 5 felony.

The charges were filed against Fossum following a March 6 driving accident on Mancos Hill.

After the charges were filed, Fossum withdrew from representing his public clients, including the city of Cortez.

"The city council is doing nothing until after the court case is over," Cortez City Manager Hal Shepherd said Wednesday.

"For now Jim Hatter is taking over all the city functions," Shepherd said. "He has already served as our law director for the court, but now he is going to do the court plus the regular city agenda and ordinance stuff, too."