City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth has been elected as an officer of the International Municipal Attorneys Association (IMLA) which is the oldest professional association of municipal lawyers from across the United States and Canada.
Humway-Warmuth was elected to the Office of Treasurer/Secretary of the IMLA during the 2020 fall conference. The Office of Treasurer places her in line for succession to the positions of President-Elect and President of the prestigious association.
“I am humbled by the honor of the nomination and election to the Office of Treasurer/Secretary of IMLA after serving on its Board of Directors for many years and I look forward to continuing to promote the goals of championing the development of fair and realistic legal strategies and solutions for municipal legal practitioners,” she said.
Humway-Warmuth is the only attorney in the state of West Virginia to be certified and one of only a handful of attorneys throughout the nation to be re-certified for two decades as a Local Government Fellow by the IMLA which provides local governments a reliable benchmark for identifying experienced and knowledgeable local government legal practitioners. Additionally, she is the West Virginia Municipal Lawyers Association president and has previously served as the West Virginia IMLA State Chairperson for 16 years. Humway-Warmuth has been a moderator and participant on several panels at the national conferences and has also been a member of the Municipal League of West Virginia’s Legislative Review Committee and assists the League on various issues concerning matters of state legislation which affect municipalities. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the board of the Ohio County Bar Association, the West Virginia Bar Association and the State Bar Local Government Lawyers Committee.
One Busy Department
Wheeling’s legal department is quite active in its role as a Pilot Home Rule City and the crafting of various ordinances and legislation, employment matters, fire service fees and various service collections, B&O collections, Tax Increment Financing, Planning and Zoning matters, condemnation issues, contractual negotiations, derelict/vacant property and dilapidated structures, as well as many other legal matters of the municipal corporation.
“I have always hoped that my active participation in the local, state and national municipal attorneys associations would be beneficial to the City of Wheeling, which I have had the honor and privilege of serving for more than 23 years in the legal department,” she said.
Prior to appointment as city solicitor for the City of Wheeling, Humway-Warmuth served as assistant city solicitor and was employed as an assistant attorney general for the state of West Virginia from 1994 to 1997 serving as legal counsel for West Virginia state colleges and universities. She also served as city attorney in Wellsburg and Cameron and has consulted numerous municipalities in the state on a variety of legal issues.
Prior to practicing in West Virginia, Humway-Warmuth received her Juris Doctor degree from the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Mich. where she served as an assistant editor of Law Review and received awards for outstanding service to the Law Review as well as numerous American Jurisprudence Awards. She has also taught as an adjunct professor at Bethany College, West Virginia University (WVU) School of Law and has been a seminar speaker at the WVU Law Review Conference as well as numerous local, state and national conferences. Humway-Warmuth resides in Wheeling with her husband, Brian..
