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Home My WebLink AboutS9-City Attorney , CITY OF SAN BERNj. _ADINO - REQUEST F\,R COUNCIL ACTION From: James F. Penman City Attorney City Attorney January 30, 1990 Subject: Reorganization in the city Attorney's Office, Adding and Deleting positions Dept: Date: Synopsis of Previous Council action: The Personnel Committee reviewed the proposed reorganization of the City Attorney's Office at their January 25, 1990 meeting and recommended full Council approval as proposed. Recommended motion: See Attachment 1 L 9 p~~ (J Signature Phone: 5355 Ward: 1 through 7 Contact person: Denice E. Brue Supporting data attached: FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: Amount: Source: (Acct. No,) (Acct. Description) Finance: Council Notes: 7l;_n?h? Agenda Item No. 5-7 CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO - REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION That the position of Assistant City Attorney be deleted and that an additional position of Sr. Assistant City Attorney be authorized. That one additional City Attorney Investigator position be authorized. That two Paralegal I positions be authorized and establish their salaries at Range 327. That two legal secretary positions be authorized and giving the City Attorney the authority to place all six legal secretary positions at the I or II level. That the Director of Personnel be directed to update Resolution Nos. 6413 and 6433 to conform to action taken by the Mayor and Common Council regarding this matter. ATTACHMENT 1 , CITY OF SAN BERN. .4DINO - REQUEST F'-'A COUNCIL ACTION STAFF REPORT James F. Penman City Attorney I PROSECUTIONS Councilwoman Ether Estrada, at a meeting of the Mayor and Council discussing then Mayor Evlyn Wilcox's proposal to add additional code enforcement officers, asked the undersigned what impact the additional code officers would have on the City Attorney's Office. I answered, explaining that every citation written is filed with the Court as a criminal complaint, requiring ~t least one appearance at a pre-trial by a Deputy City Attorney and often numerous appearances if the defendant fights the citation, including a trial. Investigators spend a great deal of time doing the follow-up trial preparation investigations which the code officers are not qualified, by background, training, etc. to do. (Investigations include witness interviews, background checks on defendants, interview of code officer by Attorney and other preparation for trial) . I stated to Ms. Estrada that once the new code officers were trained and working in the field, there would be a substantial increase in prosecutions and a need for more personnel. This prediction is now a fact. Whereas in 1987 we processed six to ten (6-10) citations a month, we now process thirty to forty (30-40) per month. Moreover, because many of these citations are issued to homeowners, they are contested in Court (almost always unsuccessfully) more frequently than citations issued to business owners. We can no longer handle the volume of criminal prosecutions with our present staff. II DEFENSE OF LAWSUITS In my first year as City Attorney (1987-1988), the City of San Bernardino realized an actual cash savings in excess of $350,000 by keeping cases in-house instead of farming them out to outside counsel. 1 75-0264 We have now realized even greater savings due to the increased cost of outside counsel per hour. We estimate our savings by keeping cases in-house to be in excess of $500,000 per year (not counting the fact that we are now free to go to trial more, instead of being forced to settle, because we aren't paying extra for the cost of so many outside attorneys). However, at the January 22, 1990 Council meeting, due to the vastly increased staff time spent prosecuting code violations and the number of cases we presently are defending in-house, we had to farm out eight (8) cases. The minimum cost per case will be $25,000 paid to outside counsel. The total cost for the eight cases farmed out on January 22, 1990, will therefore total a minimum of $200,000. Moreover, at the present rate of filings of lawsuits against the City, and subtracting cases closed, we anticipate we will have to farm out an additional eight to ten cases every three months to every four months. This would be an annual minimum cost of: 8 cases (every 4 months) x 3 (times per year) = 24 (additional cases per year); 24 (cases per year) x $25,000 (minimum per case) = $600,000 per year additional. I emphasize that the above cases are in addition to the cases we would farm out anyway due to their complexity, specialized area of the law, etc. The cost for the positions requested ($188,896 for the first 12 months) will come from the already established account for outside attorneys. NO ADDITIONAL ALLOCATION OF FUNDS IS NECESSARY. The money is already in the City Attorney office budget for outside counsel. Without the additional personnel, more cases will have to be farmed out and additional allocations for outside attorneys will be necessary this fiscal year. Respectfully Submitted, ~~'7~~~ ~~es F. Penman City Attorney 2 CITY OF SAN BERN",~DINO - REQUEST FUR COUNCIL ACTION STAFF REPORT Denice Brue Assistant City Attorney Presently the City Attorney's office is handling 235 cases; of these, 193 cases are handled in-house, 42 cases are handled by outside attorneys. Each of five attorneys who handle litigation, has an average of 40 cases to handle. Handling in-house means preparing answers and/or demurrers to complaints. Demurrers require research time. Preparing discovery requests such as requests for interrogatories, admissions, notices of motions for the other side or if these are propounded to us, they require answering or attending depositions. Depositions take time to prepare, either as the deposing attorney (questions to be asked) or if we are responding to the deposition (to prepare our witness). Reports must be reviewed which include investigative, medical and experts. Follow up to information must be done. Cases being handled by outside attorneys must be monitored and require review of their correspondence and follow up to information requests. Research on one issue may take several hours of the attorney's time. The deputies in the office also must attend meetings, do drafts of ordinances, legal opinions, review documents and memorandums of information in response to various departmental requests. The Assistant City Attorney, in addition to handling a litigation caseload, supervises the in-house litigation, sets up litigation procedures and supervises the deputy attorneys in the area of litigation. The Assistant City Attorney position also manages the general office functions and procedures. The Senior Assistant City Attorney supervises deputies in the municipal affairs, prepares numerous legal opinions and is the attorney to RDA. The City Attorney has overall supervision of the office and staff, prepares legal opinions and ordinances, and advises the Mayor and Council as well as generally supervises the litigation and municipal affairs. There also has been an increase in code enforcement and other municipal prosecutions, property abatements and an overall increase in legal services requested to accomplish not only the above areas but in other areas as well. Needless to say, it is less costly to handle our litigation in-house because of the disparity between our salaries and the hourly rate of outside attorneys. However, due to the current workload, there is a present inability to handle the volume and complexity of litigation with our present staffing level. 7.".n?h.c1 There is a decided difference in cost of litigation, for example in the land use area, of handling a case in-house versus by outside attorneys can be shown by the following: \ We handled approximately 6 land use cases in-house that had \ substantial damages attached. Damage. demands were $20 million, - $30 million and $44 million respectively. One case was won at the pleading stage, the other was settled without any damages or attorneys fees paid by the City, the other is still being litigated. Another case for $7 million in damages is being handled by an \ outside firm who anticipates the defense of that case to exceed ~ $100,000. Proposed Changes The proposed reoganizationa1 changes in the City Attorney's Office are as follows: To divide the office into two divisions, each division being headed by a Senior Assistant City Attorney. The first division would be headed by Dennis Barlow, who is presently a Senior Assistant City Attorney. That division would be Municipal Law and RDA. The second division would be headed by Denice E. Brue, who is presently the Assistant City Attorney and would be upgraded to Sr. Assistant City Attorney. This division would be Litigation and Prosecutions. Exhibit 1 shows the organizational chart of the proposed changes. The request for additional staff is as follows, with associated cost: Assistant City Attorney to Sr. Assistant City Attorney Difference Salary + Benefits = Total 5717/mo 1715/mo = 7432/mo 63l8/mo 1895/mo = 8213/mo 601 180 = 781/mo $7432/mo x 12 mos = 89,184 $8213/mo x 12 mos 98,556 $ 781/mo x 12 mos = 9,372 -2- Present Range 493, Step 3 To Range 513, Step 3 Difference Legal Secretary I Request - 2 positions, Range 288 Each position costed out as follows: step 1 (6 mos. probation) 1865/mo x 6 mos. step 2 (after 6 mos probation) 1958/mo x 6 mos = Benefits at 30% of salary + Total cost of 1 position $22,938 6,881 $29,819 Total for 2 positions for one year $59,638 Investigator Request - 1 position, Range 381 step 1 (6 mos probation) $2966/mo x 6 mos = step 2 (after 6 mos. probation $3114/mo x 6 mos = Benefits at 30% of salary Total cost for 1 position + $36,480 10,944 $47,424 Paralegal Request - 2 positions, Range 327 step 1 (6 mos Probation) 2266/mo x 6 mos. = step 2 (after 6 mos Probation) 2379/mo x 6 mos = Benefits at 30% of salary Total cost for 1 position + $27,870 8,361 $36,231 Total cost of 2 positions for one year $72,462 -3- = $11,190 11,748 $22,938 .30 $ 6,881.40 $17,796 $18,684 $36,480 .30 $10,944 $13,596 14,274 $27,870 .30 8,361 Summary of Changes Difference Per Month Per Year Assistant City Attorney to Senior Assistant City Attorney 781 9,372 Legal Secretary I (2 positions) 59,638 Investigator (1 position) 47,424 Paralegal I (2 positions) 72,462 Total Dollar Amount $188,896 The basis for the particular positions requested is that two paralegal positions are justified to handle the increased workload in the municipal affairs area and to handle increased litigation needs which cannot be borne by or absorbed into the existing workload or staffing. Paralegals can be of assistance in several areas. They can do research which is valuable not only with respect to litigation issues, but also for issues regarding municipal affairs. The additional in-house resources are not only cheaper, but provide for a more expeditious turn-around time for issues which need researching. The difference between defeating or not defeating a claim in a case can turn on one legal issue which must be thoroughly researched. Research takes time. Further, it is inherently cheaper for paralegals to be on staff to do the research than it is to have attorney time spent researching issues which can easily be done by a paralegal. As a result, it frees up an attorney for other things which actually require an attorney. Paralegals can also prepare discovery requests and draft documents, again freeing up the attorney for more pressing legal problems. An investigator is essential to gathering information relative to a case to determine whether the case should be fought or settled. Questions to be asked in a deposition or information discovered has to be followed up. This is essential to good case preparation. Legal secretaries are needed, of course, to type the pleadings, etc. which must be prepared for court. At the present time all secretaries in the office have a substantial amount of work -4- backed up. Overtime, at time and one-half is becoming a common occurrence with all secretaries. It is estimated that unless we hire an additional two (2) secretaries, we will have to farm out at least six (6) additional cases in the next 45 days at a cost of $25,000 per case, that will result in an additional cost to the City of $150,000. state and Federal laws, as well as individual Judges impose mandatory filing and other deadlines on complaints, answers, motions, interrogatories etc. There is little manuerving room on these time limits without the opposing party's consent and, in Federal Court there is less room for extensions, even with the other party's consent. The Personnel Committee has reviewed and approved the reorganization as proposed by the City Attorney and recommends full Council approval. The concept of hiring the legal secretaries at a I or II level is consistent with the present practice in the police department for Dispatchers, Police Record Clerks and Identification Technicians. Based upon discussion with the Personnel Department it was recommended that the paralegal position be placed at the 327 Range based on internal relationships, i.e. after review of the duties performed and the current placement of the Legal Secretary I and II salaries. -5- ..-! -i-l -i-l "i-t Ul ~ ~v~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .jJ OJ 8 c ~/~ .~ ~ (/) Orl ..-! orl U ~ :> J:: oi-t . OCl+l ..-! rl Ul ro ! ~~ ~ ~ i-t ..-! !tLJ ~ ~ '..-! Ig ..-! ~ p..; ~ ~ "i tI) Ul 8 ~ oj III H ~ i i ~ ~, $ ~ >, +l +l i ~ orl U ~ I >, ~ ~ ] ~ ~a~ ~'@u "i-t ..-!:> . Cll.i-t +l 0.. Cl Ul d ~ Ubi Exhibit 1 LAW OFFICES OF FURNESS, MIDDLEBROOK & KAISER A F'ROFESSIONAL. CORPORATION .JOHN w. FURNESS GREG C. MtODLEBROOK MtCHAEL Ft. KAISER .JAMES A. HIGGINS FLOYD F: F'ISI-4EI..L. THOMAS ..I. MULLEN ROBIN ..I. FORD MELISSA A. LAOENSON .JEFFREV A. WEAVER 1.11 NORTH "D" STREET P. O. BOX 1319 SAN BERNARDINO. CALIFORNIA 9.2402-131& PALM SPRINGS OFFICE 3001 E. TAHOUITZ-MCCALLUM WAY SUITE 205 P....LM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA 92262 161Ql 322-0808 FA)( (6191 322-8979 (714) 8S8-5751 (714) 88e~ee41 FAX 17'....1 888.7380 01" COUNSE:L: WM. A. FLOR'f January 26, 1990 CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO City Attorney Office 300 North "D" street San Bernardino, California 92418-0421 A'.M'ENTION: JAMES F. PENMAN Dear Mr. Penman: We last increased our hourly rates in AUgust 1988. Since that date, we have experienced a significant increase in the cost of group medical insurance and in the salaries paid to legal secretaries and attorneys. In order to give you the continued good services and quality legal product, we find it necessary to increase our hourly rates effective February 1, 1990. Attached is the new schedule for your review. Very truly yours, FURNESS, MIDDLEBROOK & KAISER (JuL_ a;J~4+- ~~~SS JWF/bb Attachment 5-1 FEE SCHEDULE I PARTNE~I ASSOCIATES I PARALEGAL/ TYPE OF SERVICE LAH CLERK INSURANCE DEFENSE $110. DO/HOUR $100.00jHOUR $45.00/HOUR INSURANCE OPINIONS 125.00/HOUR 125. DO/HOUR 45.00jHOUR EXTRA CONTRACTUAL 110.00/HOUR 110.00jHOUR 45.00jHOUR FIRST PARTY 125.00/HOUR 125.00jHOUR 45. DOjHOUR I I FIRM NAHE: FURNESS, HIDDLEBROOK & KAISER POST OFFICE BOX 1319 SAN BERNARDINO, CA 92402-1319 FURNESS, MIDDLEBROOK & KAISER 3001 E. TAHQUITZ-HcCALLUM WAY, SUITE 205 PALM SPRINGS, CA 92262 FEBRUARY, 1990