The city’s legal department says it needs more money if it’s going to fight the lawsuit between it and the companies involved in building Freedom Point at Liberty Park.

In 2014, the stones that lead from Freedom Point to the water began to settle and separate, leaving gaping holes that posed a danger. The area has continually been fenced off since the problem arose. The problem left the city facing expensive repairs and leaning on the company that issued the performance bond for the project to fix the problem. Clarksville City Attorney Lance Baker told Mayor Kim McMillan during Tuesday’s round of budget hearings that his department will need the additional money to help them settle the lawsuit involving the revetment stones at Freedom Point.

The lawsuit between the city of Clarksville and TMS Contracting — the original contractor — and Fidelity and Deposit of Maryland — the surety company — will require a lot of hours from the department, which means more money, Baker said Tuesday.

Tuesday’s request includes $214,421 in operating expenses, up from $92,654 last year, and $388,234 in salaries and benefits, up from $357,321. Baker did not request any additional employees.

“This construction lawsuit is going to take a significant amount of time,” Baker told the mayor.

Baker said that when facing a lawsuit involving a major construction company, “we will have to have the same army of lawyers working on it from our (the city’s) behalf.”

“$40,000 is not going to cut it,” Baker said. “We can try hard to keep it under $100,000, but it will be eaten up very quickly (when there’s a) multi-million dollar construction project and a lawsuit … that may end up going toward the Liberty Park lawsuit.”

McMillan said during the hearing that this kind of request is a result of the city’s growth and its need to have its own legal department to handle cases such as these.

“We can’t predict on the front end how it may or may not cost, but it’s the product of becoming a large metropolitan area that requires that type of assistance,” McMillan said.

Baker said he’s seen that type of growth in the department since he started working for the city.

“When I first started this job, everything was outsourced,” Baker said. “At any given time now, we have less than half a dozen, or three or four cases, that are being outsourced.

“We have dozens of other lawsuits that are being handled in-house.”

Other departments such as the Clarksville Department of Electricity and the Customs House Museum presented their budget requests to the mayor Tuesday.

CDE’s request included a request for three new employees, or a team, to add to the department’s electric division. The request would raise CDE’s budget from more than $165 million to more than $170 million. The request would include a new bucket truck for the additional employees as well.

The Customs House Museum, located downtown, is asking the city for $400,000 in capital improvement funds that would go toward installing a new HVAC system. The current HVAC system is almost 20 years old, said Jim Zimmer, the museum’s new director.

Zimmer said the museum is requesting $698,154 for its 2017 operating budget, up from $613,702 in 2016.

Hearings will conclude Wednesday with departments such as the Parks and Recreation Department and the Gas, Water and Sewer Department.

Budget hearings are streamed live on the city’s website. More information on this week’s schedule can be found at cityofclarksville.com. For copies of the departments’ presentations, go to bit.ly/citybudgethearings.

SOURCE EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated TMS Contracting filed for bankruptcy. TMS has not filed for bankruptcy; its subcontractor, Rust Inc. of Kentucky, filed for bankruptcy in 2012. The Leaf-Chronicle regrets the error.

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