In addition to maintaining updated contact information, the city also had the option of registering the domain for a longer block of time. Considering the cost of registration for 10 years, and that of losing the domain (part of which you described in this article)… it would have been good sense for them to opt for extended registration.

With personal sites short registration may be justified. Even businesses may sensibly choose something less than the maximum (campaign-specific domains, for instance)… but a city? With few exceptions, those can be expected to remain 10 years from now. Registration length should account for this.

Also you mention inbound links. With a moderate amount of work, some (hopefully most) can be updated. There is always a portion that cannot be fixed, though.

Lost value that cannot be recovered, only replaced.