HomeMy WebLinkAboutS3-City Attorney
C UX OF SAN BERNARDINO - REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION
-1
From: James F. Penman
Subject: Transfer of$82,000 from City Attorney Outside
Attorney Account to Public Works as a Loan From the City
to Pay for Part of the $97,895.20 Bill for Work Performed by
Attorney Tim Sabo on Mello-Roos District Work.
Dept: CITY ATTORNEY
Date: March 12, 1997
ORIGINAL
Synopsis of Previous Council action:
Resolution #94-294 approved on 9/19/94.
Professional Services Agreement with Sabo and Green approved on 11/21/94.
Recommended motion:
That the transfer of $82,000 from Line Item #001-051-5503 (City Attorney: Litigation-Outside Attorneys) to
Line Item #251-673-5505 (Public Works-Mello-Roos District, referred to as CFD 995) be approved as a loan from
the City to the Mello-Roos District to partially fund payment to law firm ofSabo and Green for work performed on
behalf of the Mello- Roos District. Interest shall accrue at a rate determined by the local Agency Investment Fund
with repayment to be made as funds become available.
7.~
Signature
Contact person: James F. Penman
Supporting data attached:
FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: Amount:
Phone:
Ward:
5255
All
Source:
Finance:
Council Notes:
75-0262
Agenda Item No. .5...~
ft'/"
..
.1
STAFF REPORT
Council Meeting Date: March 17. 199I
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
AGENDA:
Mayor and Common Council
James F. Penman, City Attorney
March 13, 1997
TRANSFER OF FUNDS FROM CITY ATTORNEY OUTSIDE ATTORNEY
ACCOUNT TO PUBLIC WORKS TO PAY FOR PART OF THE $97,895.20
BILL FOR WORK PERFORMED BY ATTORNEY TIM SABO ON MELLO-
ROOS DISTRICT WORK
This fiscal year, the City Attorney's budget is $252,000 for Outside Attorneys. Due
to more cases being handled in-house, the City Attorney was able to project a savings of
$42,000 at the mid-year budget review. Since that projection was made, the final bill on
the Saman trial has come in. It is considerably less than anticipated. Because the Saman
case jury "hung" at the conclusion of the first trial, the outside attorney had to retry the
case. However, he did not need to repeat much of the preparation that was made during
the first trial. As a consequence of this and other factors, we have approximately $82,000
available to transfer as a "loan" to the Mello-Roos District.
The Mayor has advised me that the firm of Sabo and Green has an outstanding bill
for approximately $97,895.20 for legal work performed on behalf of Mello-Roos District in
the Verdemont area. Normally, such bills are paid from funds generated by the District.
However, there are insufficient funds remaining in the District account to pay the entire bill.
The City does not budget for legal costs for Mello-Roos Districts. Although the
contract with Sabo and Green requires bills to be submitted to the City Attorney's office,
there were no such submittals. A claim has been made that former Senior Assistant City
Attorney Dennis Barlow authorized the bills to go to another office directly. A conversation
with Mr. Barlow on March 13, 1997 at 8:27 a.m. confirms that this claim is not true.
Mr. Barlow categorically denies that he ever told anyone to have the bills go anywhere
except to the City Attorney's office.
In any event, such costs are separate from the regular City Attorney budgeted legal
expenses. They have a separate source of funding.
Since this bill is apparently past due and since the savings from the City Attorney's
office are available, it is not inappropriate to make this transfer as a loan (from the City to
Mello-Roos District) to assist the Mello-Roos District in meeting it's financial obligations.
e
e
e
ORIGINAL
CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
PERSONNEL ACTION LIST (UNCLASSrFrED) FOR COUNCIL AGENDA OF:
IIIIIJII-if'IB
CERTrFrCATrON BY DrRBCTOR OF PERSOKKBL:
I hereby certify that the UNCLASSIFIED Personnel Action(s) listed
below conform with all personnel policies adopted by the Mayor and
Common Council and are in conformance with all administrative
regulations of the City of San Bernardino.
Signed: 04fi.Aa,.4"AA...././~)
Date:
3/17/97
UNCLASsrFrED
MOTION: In addition to the classified actions, below is a list of
unclassified personnel action(s), submitted by the Director of
Personnel, which comply with City policies. I recommend that the
Mayor and Common Council approve the below listed personnel
action(s) .
NAME/DEPARTMENT
RBOUESTED ACTION
1.
Grubb, Ruth S.
FIRE/EMERGENCY
MEDICAL SERVICES
(EMS)
APPOINTMENT: Program Director
(EMS) (U), Range 4496, Salary
Step 2, $5532/mo., eff. 4/14/97.
PD:UNCLASSIFIED
5'-5
3/~7