Well, that is a very good question regarding asking the city attorney but considering there is a plethora of experts here I am exercising as a first step to just see if there is some standard or consensus on the question. If a bunch of folks come forward to say, "Oh, there's an obvious/standard answer" and you all say the same thing then the question would be satisfied and I'll be on my way. If not, then I'll wait to for a few more folks to chime in before giving more information. The point being is if there is a standard either implicit or explicit because I'm in a conundrum.
But to answer your question above, in our transparency and open government law, there must be an ethical firewall between this body's legal counsel and the city attorney despite the former is assigned from the same office. The body has not sought legal advice on this matter as the 11-member body additionally includes, at least, one attorney appointed to the body. For more than the past decade, the body has held a certain position on this matter that while challenged by the city attorney in their advice to their clients (which is also a violation of the local law) all those found in violation have fully complied with the body's orders except for one, the main legislative elective body. Thus, there is a difference of opinion on the matter which, again, is why I'm inquiring in this most general of manners to see if there is a general best practice, a standard, a rule, etc.