Diverse experience necessary

Ron Davis

Generalizations often do not apply to a specific situation. As an

example, the Independent’s article titled “What it takes to be the

city attorney” (Sept. 5) states that the most important qualification

is a substantial background in municipal law.

Obviously more than a passing familiarity with municipal law is

essential to a city attorney’s office. But a heavy emphasis on that

narrow area of the law, to the exclusion of others, is what has

gotten this city in legal trouble and cost us millions.

In Huntington Beach, our attorney’s office consists of eight

lawyers with a combined municipal law experience of more than 100

years. Even when City Atty. Gail Hutton departs, the office will be

left with more than 75 years of municipal law experience.

However, questions arise as to whether even that extensive

experience has served the residents well.

Despite this “municipal law” expertise, the office improperly

advised Dave Garofalo that his ownership of the Visitor’s Guide and

his seat on the council did not amount to a conflict of interest.

Did that wealth of “municipal law” experience serve us well when

the city made front-page headlines admitting we were sewer criminals?

Was that experience any solace to the city when they lost millions in

the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Assn. litigation over a city tax? Did

that vast experience placate the residents who suffered the indignity

of the Elena Zagustin nuisance house for 10 years? And that’s just

the tip of a mighty big iceberg.

And what has been the cost for this “legal service” to you, the

taxpayer?

Since the Independent used Fountain Valley as a source, I will

too. Huntington Beach has a population about four times that of

Fountain Valley, and an area three times larger. Our general fund is

a little more than four times that of our sister city. Given our

proximity and that legal services for one city are essentially the

same as those rendered to another (they just vary in terms of amount)

it is fair to look at what it costs Fountain Valley for all of their

legal services, and multiply that number by four (to equalize for

size differences) and determine what we could logically expect to

spend for whatever legal services we’ve received.

As an average, Fountain Valley residents pay $260,000 a year for

their legal services. (I have provided the budgets for the past two

years, and this year for both cities to the Independent office for

readers’ review.) Accordingly, Huntington Beach would be in the

ballpark if it paid four times $260,000, or about $1.2 million a year

for each of the same years.

However instead of spending $1.2 million per year, we’ve been

averaging close to $4 million per year. That’s a waste of almost $8

million over a three-year period -- $8 million that could have and

should have been spent filling your potholes, instead of filling the

pockets of expensive outside attorneys. Had the city attorney’s

office saved only half a million dollars in each of the past two

years, we wouldn’t be talking about closing the Shipley Nature

Center, cutting our library hours, reducing the DARE program, cutting

police and fire services or raising your sewer fees.

The City Attorney’s office has had, and will continue to have, a

wealth of municipal law experience. What we need is a city attorney

with extensive and diverse legal experience who will cut the waste

and out-of-control spending.

* RON DAVIS is a Huntington Brach resident. He is one of four

attorneys running for City Attorney this November. To contribute to

Sounding Off fax us at (714) 965-7174 or e-mail us at

hbindy@latimes.com.