Blink and you missed it, but this morning, the city council quietly (and tentatively---the final vote isn't until November 22) approved ending a longstanding contract with private law firm Stafford Frey, which defends the police department in tort cases, instead handing more of those cases to city attorney Pete Holmes' office. Stafford Frey's attorneys cost about $275 an hour; the city attorney's lawyers, just over $100. The city will have outside firms bid on more complex cases, and "Stafford Frey can certainly compete for those contracts," Holmes' spokeswoman Kimberly Mills says. Stafford Frey will continue representing the city in cases involving officer use of force.

The losers here? Well, obviously, Stafford Frey (which has made about $18 million on police contracts since 1999). Additionally, the police department certainly sees itself as a loser---their union chief, Rich O'Neill, has threatened to file an unfair-labor practice claim against the city if it goes forward with the change, arguing that that the city attorney's office won't do as good a job for SPD as an outside firm---although city officials dispute that, saying the city attorneys can do just as good a job as private firms at a third of the cost.

The move will save the city an estimated $1 million a year.