Longtime city attorney James Kennedy will leave his post next month to become a Superior Court judge following his approval from the New Hampshire Executive Council.

Kennedy worked for the City of Concord for more than 14 years, with 12 of them as the city solicitor. His successor has not yet been announced.

“I feel like I’ve worked hard here and had a satisfying experience with the city – and I think that goes both ways,” Kennedy said.

Gov. Chris Sununu nominated Kennedy to his new job on Nov. 8, and, after a December hearing, the Executive Council confirmed him unanimously on Jan. 10.

Kennedy joined the city as deputy city solicitor in 2009, having worked for a private firm and as an assistant attorney general under then-Attorney General Kelly Ayotte. He was hired two years later to succeed Paul Cavanaugh.

The city solicitor heads the city’s legal department and serves as counsel for Concord’s government and administration. That means a diverse range of responsibilities hitting his desk on any given day, Kennedy said. That gamut – everything from years-long litigation to drafting city ordinances – was among what he liked most about the job.

“When Paul Cavanaugh hired me back in 2009 he said, ‘You’re going to love this job. It’s something new and different every day,’ ” Kennedy recalled. “He was right.”

His most consequential undertaking during those fourteen years, Kennedy said, was overseeing the contractual agreements behind major city developments such as the revitalization of Main Street and the construction of the Sewalls Falls Bridge, the citywide Community Center on the Heights and the Market Basket complex in Penacook. That kind of legal work is a big part of what his department does, and those projects improved access to infrastructure and services for a wide range of residents, he emphasized.

From across the spectrum of his duties, Kennedy also highlighted a dispute with a utility company about the city’s rules for digging up roads.

Unfolding over more than half a decade and coming before the state Supreme Court twice, a natural gas company unsuccessfully challenged Concord’s ordinance regulating road excavation, which not only requires a permit to disturb a right-of-way but either bars or places increased fees on excavation of roads newer than five years.

When pavement is dug up and repaired, it nevertheless shortens the lifespan of the road, Kennedy explained. Those additional fees help compensate taxpayers for the loss and also incentivize companies to coordinate their construction with the city’s road improvement plans.

While litigation is not the bulk of his work, the timespan of the case, its direct taxpayer savings and its educational components – he had to bring in experts in road construction and study up on the subject himself – made it a compelling and rewarding project, Kennedy said.

As he moves on, Kennedy praised the staff at City Hall and said he is looking forward to his next venture.

In his hearing with the Executive Council, Kennedy cited the range of experience he gained as city attorney as qualifying for the judicial post, and pledged to be “a judge who is open-minded, considerate, hardworking and respectful for all those who come before me.”

“While Attorney Kennedy’s departure will be a significant loss for the City, we are confident that his new role as a justice on the Superior Court will be a great gain for the State of New Hampshire,” City Manager Tom Aspell said in a statement about Kennedy’s departure.

Kennedy will formally leave the city sometime in the first half of February and start as a judge promptly thereafter, he said. The hiring process for who will take over his role is ongoing.