ALTUS – Longtime Jackson County resident Sommer Robbins has been hired as the new city attorney beginning May 24.
Robbins, an assistant district attorney in Jackson County for the past five years, was offered the job after the Altus City Council met in executive session May 4.
With legal experience in the private and public sectors, Robbins said she’s looking forward to her new position and working in a community where her family has been for more than three generations.
“I’m community-minded,” she said. “We have a family farm here and it’s a great place to raise kids.”
Robbins, who will be a full-time city attorney earning $110,000 a year, will assist the council and City Manager Gary Jones with a list of special projects, writing and researching ordinances and representing the city in municipal court cases. She replaces former City Attorney Michael Beason who recently resigned.
The court cases will be a significant deviation from her current role as prosecutor where she handles numerous felonies, including murder, child abuse and drug cases.
“I won’t be spending nearly the amount of time in court that I am now as a prosecutor,” she said. “Most of my time will be spent on the special projects” and providing legal opinions to the city manager and council as needed.
Jones said he’s looking forward to working with Robbins.
“She brings a wealth of knowledge and she’ll be good to work with,” he said.
Robbins previously worked at a private Chickasha law firm in insurance defense while also working as the assistant city attorney for both Blanchard and Tuttle. In 2007, she went to work for the state Department of Human Services in the Child Support Services division. Nine years later, she was hired as an assistant district attorney in Jackson County.
Robbins is on the board of directors for the Stephen E. Booker Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides funding to Booker’s Place at Jackson County Memorial Hospital, a child advocacy center that provides a child-friendly location for investigations and services to abused children and their families. The foundation also provides education to the community about child abuse and neglect.
In 2019, she received the Rural Health Advocate of the Year award from the Rural Health Association of Oklahoma for her role in developing the child advocacy center.
She received her undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University and earned her law degree from the University of Oklahoma in 2004.
Robbins lives on the family farm with her husband Chad, their son Miller and daughter Scout. In her spare time, she stays busy with her children’s sporting events and school activities.