HomeMy WebLinkAboutR26-Economic Development Agency
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
DATE:
March 24, 2006
Termination oC General Counsel Legal
Services Contract Cor the Community
Development Commission oC the City oC San
Bernardino (on behalC oC the Economic
Development Agency)
FROM:
Maggie Pacheco SUBJECT:
Interim Executive Direct'Q R , G' N A L
___________._.__________.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________nO
Svnopsis oCPrevious Commission/Council/Committee Actionfs):
On March 2 1,2006, Redevelopment Committee Members Estrada, Johnson, and McGinnis unanimously voted to recommend
that the Community Development Commission consider this action Cor approval.
------------------------------------.-----------------------------_.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommended Motionfs):
fCommunitv Development Commission)
Resolution of the Community Development Commission of the City of San Bernardino approving the
termination of the July 6, 1998 Agreement by and between the Agency and the City for General Counsel Legal
Services by the City Attorney upon thirty (30) days written notice to the City as provided in Section 3 (h) of the
Agreement.
_________.______________________________________________________________________________________d_____n_____________________....._._._...._._..__._____.__............_
Contact Person(s):
,/
Project Area(s):
Supporting Data Attached:
Maggie Pacheco
Phone:
(909) 663- I 044
All
All
Ward(s):
o Staff Report 0 Resolution(s) 0 Agreement(s)/Contract(s) 0 Map(s) 0 Letters
SIGNATURE:
Budget Authority:
N/A
N/A
FUNDING REQUIREMENTS:
Amount: $
o
Source:
~
. . Services Director
..............----............-.......-................---.-.---...-.-......................--..---.--..............------.-----.--.-.-.........--...--------.-...-.............
commission/COU!Cil Notes:
tOe. ;)-tJn -/D
,
-.---................-....-..---...........-..-----.---...-.............-..------.----.-----.----..-.----.------.----.-.--------------------------.-...
P:\AgendasIComm Dev Commission\CDC 2006\04-03-06 City Attorney Legal Services Termination SR.doc
COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA
Meeting Date: 04/03/2006
Agenda Item Number: ,1<..;1 0
ECONOMIC 'DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
ST AFF REPORT
TERMINA nON OF GENERAL COUNSEL LEGAL SERVICES CONTRACT FOR THE
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
(ON BEHALF OF THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY)
BACKGROUND:
On December 7, 1981. the Law Office of Timothy 1. Sabo was approved as Bond Counsel and Special
Counsel to the Agency. Throughout much of the 1980's, Mr. Sabo continued to provide Bond and
Special Counsel legal services to the Agency and on October I, 1990, the Community Development
Commission ("Commission"). on behalf of the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Bernardino
("Agency") retained the law firm of Sabo & Green, to provide special counsel services in connection
with the implementation of several projects in the City; Special Counsel was to present the Agency on
a number of projects and provide direct advice to the Commission and Agency Staff, along with
preparing resolutions. ordinances, attending meetings, negotiations with Agency Staff and Developers
and others, and attending to condemnation actions. Mr. Sabo was designated as the attorney primarily
responsible for services rendered to the Agency.
On March 21. 1994, the Commission took action terminating the services of the City Attorney's Office
as Agency Counsel and instructed Staff, per an existing legal services agreement, to provide the City
Attorney's Office with a thirty (30) day written notification of the Agency's intent to terminate the
agreement. Apparently, on April 18, 1994, the Commission approved retention of the City Attorney as
general counsel to the Agency until a new general counsel was selected and to enable the City
Attorney's Office to complete a series of projects that were underway at that time,
Thereafter, on June 19, 1995 and again July 6, 1998, the Commission and the Mayor and Common
Council ("Common Council") authorized the Agency Chairperson and Mayor to execute an agreement
("Agreement') between the Commission, on behalf of the Economic Development Agency, and the
City. for the City Attorney to provide legal services to the Commission/Agency.
Pursuant to the Agreement, as General Counsel to the Agency. the City Attorney was to provide full-
time attorney service to render legal advice, assist in drafting documents, provide review and revision
of documents. agreements and resolutions, and participate in negotiations with developers and others.
Moreover, the City Attorney was to perform all the necessary services in connection with projects
undertaken by the Agency, or being considered by the Agency and to render in a satisfactory and
proper manner as determined by the Agency all legal services necessary. To a large extent. neither the
City Attorney nor the Agency have implemented the 1998 Agreement. The former Executive Director
Van Osdel was not made aware of the 1998 Contract until sometime in the fall or later part of the 2005
year.
The Agreement also contemplated continued need for the Agency (particularly in bond-related matters)
to utilize services of outside counsel, which the Agency has had a standard practice of utilizing various
independent law finns for decades providing a high level of expertise in a variety of redevelopment,
housing, federal and state matters. The City Attorney was also to determine when the services of
outside counsel were required and arrange for the employment of same.
'-\~t:I~ja' ('1 III III Del. C,llllln',W)t: (DC :O()6 04.03-U6 Cllv Anorne, Leg;!: S~I\ICe, Tl"rminatlnn SR doc
COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA
~eeting Date: 04/03/2006
Agenda Item Number:
Economic Development Agency Staff Report
Termination of General Counsel Legal Services Contract
Page 2
The 1998 Agreement provided for the Agency to pay the City a retainer of $ I 36,400 per year for legal
services, however, payments ceased in September 1999 as part of the Agency and City's agreement to
establish a three (3) year plan to eliminate the Agency's annual budget subsidy to the City in the total
amount of $ 1.8 million. Over a three (3) year period, the Agency's budget subsidy to the City was
reduced by $600,000 each year and the City and Agency approved this action through their respective
annual budgets. The $ 1.8 million included the retainer of $] 36,400.
After a formal RFP was issued by the Agency, the latest, five (5) year, Special Counsel contract was
awarded to Sabo & Green on August 10, 2000 and subsequently assigned by Amendment to the law
firm of Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard and Smith ("LBBS") on October 25, 2000. The hourIy rates that
LBBS charges the Agency is $140 per hour for Senior Attorneys and is reimbursed for other direct
costs and expenses. This five (5) year contract was due to expire in November 6, 2005 and as such, on
October 17,2005, the Commission extended the contract ("Amendment No. ]") for a period of six (6)
months, ending on April 30, 2006 pending the outcome of the new administration in March 2006, and
the commencement of the procurement process for legal services and to return to the Commission with
said results. Staff is presently out with an RFP for Legal Services and proposals are scheduled to be
returned by March 31, 2006.
CURRENT ISSUE:
Over the years, it has become apparent that there is a duplication of effort on behalf of Agency General
Counsel. Agency Special Counsel and Executive Director. All legal documents, agreements and
resolutions are drafted by Staff in collaboration with Agency Special Counsel, who provide the
Agency with a highly qualified team of experts specializing in California Community Redevelopment
Law, including bond financing, CDBG, Affordable Housing, HOME program activities and HUD ] 08
financing prior to being transmitted to the City Attorney for review and prior to the items being
formally placed on the Commission and Common Council agenda. Moreover, given the Agency's
practice and operations, all items presented to the Commission or Common Council come as
recommendations or actions of the Redevelopment Committee, which the City Attorney's Office is
often not involved in the production of the Redevelopment Committee items or for that matter the
subjects that are placed on the agenda. By the time the item is placed on the Committee agenda, Staff
has been working on the matter for some time and many of the subjects are time sensitive in nature and
therefore there is virtually little time to bring another attorney on board. Because Mr. Sabo, as current
Special Counsel to the Agency, occupies office space within the Agency, he is easily accessible and
readily available to work on important matters and moreover, the items presented to the
Redevelopment Committee are composed by the Agency Executive Director or other Staff members in
coordination with Mr. Sabo as the day to day Special Counsel to the Agency.
Although the Agency has enjoyed a cordial relationship with the City Attorney and his office over the
years, this duplication of efforts considerably lengthens the time necessary for legal review before an
agenda item can be placed on the agenda. Also, given the Agency's past practice of working on daily
complex projects that include, but are not limited to, real estate negotiations, property owner
mediations, negotiating business and deal points, and structuring business transactions and composing
and crafting owner participation and disposition and development agreements, it is absolutely critical
to act expeditiously on making decisions and scheduling matters before the Redevelopment Committee
1'\~~TldJsC'Il'111 Dc, (0111111\;,>1011 CDC :>_")()U-l.O:;-u6 (II. Alll'flle\' Le~al 'cf\i.:es TermlOatl0n 5R duc
COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA
Meeting Date: 04/03/2006
Agenda Item Number:
Economic Development Agency Staff Report
Termination of General Counsel Legal Services Contract
Page 3
and Commission. Also, and perhaps more importantly, the City Attorney legal service contract with
the Agency only serves to divert valuable time and resources away from more pressing City legal
matters as one attorney must make the time to review the legal work of another legal expert and, in
many cases, the business terms memorialized in a draft agreement have already been agreed upon by
the parties involved in the negotiations, such as the Executive Director, Agency Special Counsel and
Agency Chairperson, subject to the approval of the Commission.
It should also be pointed out that the new Charter, effective March 6, 2006 ("Charter"), under State
Law, is the primary governing document of the City, and the Charter is not controlling on the
Redevelopment Agency, Economic Development Agency and the Commission. Although there was a
time \vhen a part of (CDBG Program) the Economic Development Agency was a City Department and
as such, it was subject to the provisions of the Charter that does not hold true today. In conclusion,
because no ordinance or the Charter requires the City Attorney to represent the Agency or the
Commission, the City Attorney Legal Services can be terminated in accordance with the provisions of
the 1998 Agreement (see attached) if the Commission determines that it is in the best interest of the
Agency to do so.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
None.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Community Development Commission adopt the attached Resolution.
P \Agenda.",Comm Del, Comml~slon\CDC 2006\04-03-06 CHY Allorne\' legal Services TerminatIOn doc
COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA
Meeting Date: 04/03/2006
Agenda Item Number:
98-199
1
A G R E E MEN T
THIS AGREEMENT is made and entered this ~~ day of
P"'fL;- 1998, by and between the Community Development
Commission of the City of San Bernardino, on behal f of the
2
3
4
5 Economic Development Agency of the City of San Bernardino, a
6 public agency of the State of California, hereinafter referred to
7 as the "Agency", and the City of San Bernardino, a charter city,
8 hereinafter referred to as "City".
9 The parties do hereby agree:
10
1. Recitals.
11
(a) Agency needs full-time attorney service to render
12 legal advice, assist in drafting documents, provide review and
13 revision of documents, agreements and resolutions, and participate
14 in negotiations with developers and others.
15
(b)
City, through its City Attorney, is prepared to
16 provide services as Agency Counsel for Agency and its governing
17 body, the Community Development Commission.
18
2.
Implementation.
19
(a) Services. Agency agrees to retain and City agrees
20 to provide, the services of the City Attorney, as Agency Counsel,
21 who shall perform or have performed all the necessary services in
22 connection wi th proj ects undertaken by the Agency, or being
23 considered by the Agency, and shall render in a satisfactory and
24 proper manner as determined by the Agency all legal services
25 necessary and desired, and shall confer when necessary with the
26 Agency and any state or federal agency on legal matters; shall
27 perform all work of a legal nature necessary and required by the
28 Agency with necessary legal advice for the proper conduct of all
1
98-199
1 projects undertaken by the Agency. The parties contemplate that
2 the City Attorney will assign sufficient attorneys to perform the
3 foregoing legal services. Such legal services for the Agency
4 shall be given priority. Both parties contemplate continued need
5 for the Agency to utilize services of outside counsel,
6 particularly in bond-related matters. The City Attorney shall
7 determine when the services of outside counsel are required and
8 arrange for the employment of same and Agency staff shall consult
9 with the City Attorney prior to the employment of outside counsel
10 and prior to the assignment of matters to such counsel. All
11 outside counsel shall keep the City Attorney informed of their
12 work and provide copies of any and all correspondence with Agency
13 to City Attorney. Under the general direction of the Commission,
14 City Attorney shall be responsible for directing and coordinating
15 services performed by outside counsel, shall work with outside
16 Counsel retained and shall review all billings from outside
17 counsel. In addition, in connection with providing the foregoing
18 legal services, the City Attorney's office will also provide
19 sufficient secretarial support services.
20 (bl Data to be Furnished City. The following data
21 will be furnished by Agency at the time work assignments covered
22 by this contract are made to the City; All records and information
23 pertaining to legal requirements of the Agency, including any
24 back-up materials, applicable regulations, correspondence,
25 preliminary drafts of agreements, if any, and any other materials
26 relating to the project in the possession of the Agency.
27 (cl Time of Performance. The services of the City
28 Attorney's office under this agreement are to commence as of July
2
98-199
1 I, 1998, and shall be undertaken and completed in such sequence as
2 to assure their expeditious completion in light of the purpose of
3 this agreement. This agreement shall be in effect until June 30,
4 2002, and thereafter shall continue for consecutive periods of one
5 year unless sooner terminated by the action of either Agency or
6 City as herein provided.
7 (d) Comoensation.
8 (1) Attornev Services. Agency will pay City a
9 retainer of $136,400.00 (One Hundred Thirty Six Thousand Four
10 Hundred Dollars) per year in full payment for the services of the
11 City Attorney's office under this agreement except as otherwise
12 provided herein. City shall provide the Agency an itemization of
13 specific services rendered, and the account category representing
14 the project or activity to which services are to be charged. In
15 addition to the compensation identified herein, Agency will
16 reimburse City for travel and subsistence expenses away from the
17 Agency's principal place of business when said travel is
18 specifically required or authorized by the Agency, unless such
19 reimbursement is paid directly to the assigned attorney.
20 Limitations on cost of transportation and subsistence expenses
21 shall be the same as those that currently prevail for staff
22 members of the Agency. Agency shall also pay for training and
23 conferences and related travel and lodging for assigned members of
24 the City Attorney's staff which directly relate to services to
25 Agency.
26 (2) Extraordinary Services. Agency will pay City for
27 the actual cost of any extraordinary services provided by the City
28 Attorney. Such services shall include, but shall not be limited
3
98-199
1 to, services of the City Attorney Investigator, etc.
2 (3) Litigation and Appeals. Agency will pay City for
3 the cost of litigation where Agency is either plaintiff or
4 defendant in the amount of One Hundred Ten Dollars ($110.00) per
5 hour. Such amount shall include all attorney, secretarial and
6 paralegal time but shall not include the cost of City Attorney
7 Investigators covered by (d) (2) above, the actual cost of
8 secretarial time in excess of the amount of attorney time
9 expended, the cost of secretarial overtime for such matters, the
10 cost of paralegal overtime for such matters, nor any out-of-pocket
11 expenses such as filing costs, deposition costs, outside
12 secretarial costs, special copy costs, etc.
13 (e) Terms and Conditions. This agreement is subject
14 to and incorporates the provisions of any and all federal
15 regulations concerning the provision of legql services to Agency.
16 (f) Conflict of Interest. In the event a conflict of
17 interest results from providing services to both Agency and City,
18 the City Attorney shall disqualify himself and his office from
19 representation of Agency, and Agency shall retain outside counsel.
20 Agency hereby waives any claim that the City Attorney should
21 generally disqualify himself from representing City, and hereby
22 consents to any such representation of City.
23 (g) Termination of Prior Contract. All previous
24 agreements between the parties hereto relating to legal services
25 are hereby terminated on the effective date of this agreement.
26 (h) Termination. This agreement may be terminated by
27 either Agency or City upon thirty days' written notice to the
28 other.
4
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
98-199
1
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this
2 agreement, on the day and date first above shown.
3 ATTEST: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
OF THE TX -OF SAN BERNARDINO
4
5
6
Appr
and
as to form
content:
7
AGENCY
8
9 By
10
ATTEST:
CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
11
~kh.~
12
13
14 Approved as to form
and legal content:
15
JAMES F. PENMAN,
16 City Attorney
17
18
19
5
RESOLUTION NO.
2
3
RESOLUTION OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO APPROVING THE
TERMINATION OF THE JULY 6, 1998 AGREEMENT BY AND
BETWEEN THE AGENCY AND THE CITY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL
LEGAL SERVICES BY THE CITY ATTORNEY UPON THIRTY (30)
DAYS WRITTEN NOTICE TO THE CITY AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 3
(H) OF THE AGREEMENT
4
5
6
7
WHEREAS, on July 6, 1998, the Community Development Commission of the City 0
8
San Bernardino ("Commission") on behalf of the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Sa
9
Bernardino, a public agency of the State of California, hereinafter referred to as the "Agency",
10
and the City of San Bernardino, a charter city, hereinafter referred to as "City" entered into
I]
agreement ("Agreement") for the City Attorney to act as Agency Counsel and perform necessar
12
legal services to the Agency; and
13
WHEREAS, the Agreement provides for termination by either Agency or City upo
14
thirty (30) days written notice to the other.
15
NOW, THEREFORE, THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION OF THE
CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO DOES HEREBY RESOLVE, DETERMINE AND ORDER, AS
FOLLOWS:
16
17
18
Section 1.
The Commission hereby authorizes termination of the Agreement pursuan
19
to Section 3(h) of the Agreement and authorizes the Interim Executive Director of the Agency t
20
provide said thirty (30) days written notice to the City.
21 Section 2.
:::2 III
23 II'
I I i
24 III
25 1/1
1//
The Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its adoption.
-] -
P:\Agt'ndil~\Rl'soluliOla\Rl'~oIUfiollS\20(J6\04-03-06 Cil~ Allorlle~ Legal Senices Termination CDC Reso.doc
2
RESOLUTION OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO APPROVING THE
TERMINATION OF THE JULY 6, 1998 AGREEMENT BY AND
BETWEEN THE AGENCY AND THE CITY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL
LEGAL SERVICES BY THE CITY ATTORNEY UPON THIRTY (30)
DAYS WRITTEN NOTICE TO THE CITY AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 3
(H) OF THE AGREEMENT
3
4
5
I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted by the
6
Community Development Commission of the City of San Bernardino at a
7
meeting thereof, held on the
day of
, 2006, by the following vote to wit:
8
Commission Members:
Abstain
Absent
Nays
Ayes
9
ESTRADA
BAXTER
MCGINNIS
DERRY
KELLEY
JOHNSON
MC CAMMACK
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Secretary
18 The foregoing resolution is hereby approved this
day of
,2006.
19
20
Patrick J. Morris, Chairperson
Community Development Commission
of the City of San Bernardino
21 ';
")7
Approved as to Form and Legal Content:
T1
By:
.~
~. . ...,..."........#"
24 Agency Counsel
25
-2-
I' ,\~...tlda~\Rl'~ollllions,Re~ohltiollS\2006\O".03-06 Cil~ AlIorlle~ Legal Sen ice~ TC'rmination CDC Reso.doc
INTER OFFICE MEMORANDUM
OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
To:
The Mayor and Common Council
From:
James F. Penman, City Attorney
Subject:
Existing EDA Agreement for General Counsel Services,
City Council Agenda for April 3, 2006, Item # R-26
Date:
April 3, 2006
Because the Mayor has agreed that it will be necessary for the Office ofthe City Attorney to continue
to attend closed sessions regarding redevelopment issues, held during meetings of both the City
Council/CDC Commission and the Council's RDA Committee, I have not objected to the
termination of the above-referenced agreement. (That attendance is necessary in order for the City
Attorney to be able to adequately advise the Mayor and Common Council on the decisions they must
make with respect to those issues and projects, and to alert EDA staffif deals being made can legally
be approved as meeting a wide variety of city requirements, codes, etc.) In fact, it was my
memorandum of March 13, 2006 to EDA Interim Director Maggie Pacheco, with copies to the
Mayor and Council members, that pointed out the need to resolve the issue of the existing agreement
that the RDA staff has declined to follow.
It has been said that some EDA staff did not have knowledge of the current agreement until recently.
This is contrary to information provided by both Huston T. Carlyle, former Senior Assistant City
Attorney and Douglas Calkins, current Senior Assistant City Attorney, both of whom assured me that
they had discussed this agreement on a number of occasions with EDA staff. I have also referred
to this agreement several times during the past nine years at different Council/Commission meetings
and I discussed it at least two years ago with RDA staff and the then City Administrator. It was the
desire of the City Administrator then, to have the RDA resume payments for legal services rendered,
a suggestion that was rejected at that time.
As background information, I want to point out that for over twenty-five years, the San Bernardino
City Attorney's Office has served as general counsel for the San Bernardino Redevelopment Agency
(hereinafter referred to as "the RDA") and the Economic Development Commission. For most of
this period, agreements existed between the San Bernardino City Council (hereinafter referred to as
"the City,") and the City's Economic Development Commission (hereinafter referred to as "the
Commission.")
/lie, If 2~
Memorandum to The Mayor and Common Council
Existing EDA Agreement for General Counsel
Page two (2)
The City Attorney's office, throughout most of those twenty-five years, provided the routine legal
services, including, but not limited to: personnel matters, routine contracts, resolutions, purchase and
sales agreements, deeds, leases, some tort defense and other legal matters, most of which did not
require the attention of lawyers who are considered specialists in redevelopment law. This
arrangement was saving the city over $200,000 per year, eight or nine years ago, by not paying
special counsel to perform routine legal work for the RDA.
During most of those years, prior to "the big hits,"RDA funds lost in unrecoverable loans made by
the corrupt activities of several Council members/CDC Commission members between 1992 and
] 995, the City's general fund was reimbursed for the services provided to the RDA by the City
Attorney. This reimbursement stopped when the RDA staff ceased to comply with the contract
between the City and the Commission in the late I990s.
Because the RDA legal work was no longer sent to the city attorney's office, as the agreement
required, this office ceased to be in a position to determine which work could be performed by the
city attorney, and which work needed to go to special counsel. Since about 1999-2000, the City
Attorney's office has continued as nominal general counsel, but has only researched, reviewed and
signed off on those documents requiring action by the Mayor and Common Council and/or the
Commission.
Nonetheless, throughout the past twenty-five years, the City Attorney's office, has always had a
"specialist" in Redevelopment Law as a Senior Assistant City Attorney.
Under my predecessor, City Attorney Ralph Prince, that "specialist" was Alan Biggs, who left this
office to become City Attorney of Cathedral City.
Mr. Biggs was followed by Dennis Barlow, who had been the County Counsel for Yuba County for
eight years and who became the City Attorney in Burbank after serving about nine years in this
office.
Mr. Barlow was followed by Huston T. Carlyle, who had previously been the Director of the
Governor's Office of Planning and Research for the State of California, a cabinet level position.
Prior to joining the Governor's cabinet, Mr. Carlyle had been Senior Assistant City Attorney for the
City of Burbank. When Mr. Carlyle left the City Attorney's office in January 2005, also after nine
years as a Senior Assistant City Attorney, he was employed by Mr. Tim Sabo's office and does the
same kind of work for Mr. Sabo that he did for our city, including doing some of the special counsel
work for our own redevelopment agency. His redevelopment expertise is considered acceptable by
both Mr. Sabo and this office.
Memo to The Mayor and Cornrnon Council
Existing EDA Agreement for General Counsel
Page three (3)
The current Senior Assistant City Attorney, Mr. Douglas H. Calkins, has been the interim city
attorney (City of Redding,) deputy county counsel (County of Solano ) and a redevelopment attorney
(City of Stockton.) Mr. Calkins has twelve years experience performing work in the area of
redevelopment law, including being the lead attorney on a number oflarge redevelopment projects.
I suspect that certain comments, printed recently in local newspapers, saying the City Attorney's
office does not posses the necessary specialization to perform redevelopment legal work, were
either made by those unaware of the background(s) of our lawyers, or they were misquotes.
Having provided this information for the record, I want it to be clear, again, that the City Attorney's
office is not objecting to the termination of the existing agreement for general counsel services
between the City and the RDA. In fact, in order for our office to resume doing all of the general
counsel work that we were doing when the existing agreement and its predecessor agreements were
being followed, it would necessitate the employment of one additional attorney. While RDA would
be expected to compensate the city's general fund for that attorney, the savings in RDA payments
to special counsel would be about $150,000 to $200,000 or more per year.
However, because the City Council must give concurrent approval to about 2/3rds of the
redevelopment actions that come before the Commission, it will still be necessary for the city
attorney's office to review most of the various RDA legal documents and plans. Therefore, we will
experience very little reduction in the amount of redevelopment-related work performed by our
office. This work, in addition to some routine general counsel work for RDA, and some tort defense,
could still be provided at no additional charge to the agency, without the existing contract.
Res ectfully Submitted,
t~/}~ ?/~~
^ es F. Penman
( ~ity Attorney/RDA General Counsel
In conclusion, the termination of the existing agreement, by and of itself, will not alter the status quo
in terms of how the city or the agency's legal work is performed. The main difference will be an
increase in the cost to the Redevelopment Agency for special counsel services. RDA special counsel
will now duplicate work for the Commission, and charge for, work that has been done, and will
continue to be done, without charge to the RDA, by the city attorney. It is estimated, based on
billings from special counsel that our office has studied, that this duplicate work by special counsel
will cost an additional $25,000 to $50,000 per year minimum, from the RDA budget. More
significantly, there will no longer be an experienced lawyer to review the bills from EDA special
counsel, prior to payment. (As general counsel, we still ask for those bills to be sent to our office for
review. Sometimes they are sent, sometimes they are not.)
~'''',orl into Record at
,'fl~vCms MIg:
u, ~ ~77t--1-Y\ p~,
re IIH""d;?t;;m _d:1. / n
1-/ h /0(0
~
~,-f 6. ~/
City Clerk/COe See,
City of San Bernardino
.
** FOR OFFICE USE ONLY - NOT A PUBLIC DOCUMENT **
RESOLUTION AGENDA ITEM TRACKING FORM
Meeting Date (Date Adopted): 'L{ - ?J ..[)~ Item #
Vote: Ayes \r "l~'~ Nays '51 7
Change to motion to amend original documents 0
K ~lp
Abstain
Companion Resolutions
N ulIN oid After: days /
Resolution # On Attachments: 0
Resolution #
Wc//JfJN~ ~"O
Absent
PUBLISH 0
RECORD W/COUNTY 0
Note on Resolution of attachment stored separately: 0
By:
POST 0
Date Sent to Mayor: \{I' l-{ I 0 /P
Date of Mayor's Signature: ~(~'-O r
Date of Clerk/CDC Signature: ~( S r Q to
Date Memo/Letter Sent for Signature:
I" Reminder Letter Sent:
Date Retumed:
2nd Reminder Letter Sent:
Request for Council Action & Staff Report Attached:
Updated Prior Resolutions (Other Than Below):
Updated CITY Personnel Folders (6413, 6429, 6433,10584,10585,12634):
Updated CDC Personnel Folders (5557):
Updated Traffic Folders (3985, 8234, 655, 92-389):
Copies Distributed to: ~/
Animal Control 0 EDA
City Administrator V Facilities 0
City Attomey Finance 0
Code Compliance 0 Fire Department 0
Development Services 0 Human Resources 0
Others:
Reso. Log Updated: ~
Seal Impressed: ~/
Reso. # on Staff Report J3'"
Not Retumed: 0
Yes ~NO By ~
",...--.
No By
No71y =
NO~_
No~ By~
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Information Services 0
Parks & Recreation 0
Police Department 0
Public Services 0
Water Department 0
Notes:
Date: ~ -1 /()h
Ready to File.
Revised 12/18/03