City hears review of attorney’s office

Deirdre Newman

An independent review of the city attorney’s office has offered a

number of suggestions, including keeping the work in-house and giving

the city manager oversight of the department.

On Monday, the consulting firm hired to do a cost/benefit analysis

of the office and identify ways to make it more efficient in the wake

of the departure of former City Atty. Jerry Scheer presented its

recommendations to city leaders during a study session.

Scheer sued the city in September, and the city settled at a cost

of $750,000 in October.

While contracting out for legal services would cost less, the firm

recommends that the city retain its in-house counsel because of the

type and quantity of the workload and the level of legal complexity.

In putting its review together, Management Partners of San Jose

interviewed 18 city officials, including all of the City Council, to

gain insight into the status of the city attorney’s office

operations, identify problem areas and see how the office is

organized. It also identified 17 other cities with comparable

populations or geographic locations and surveyed them for financial

and staffing information to help make its recommendations.

Management Partners emphasized that its review was not an

evaluation of the performance of the city attorney’s staff. That

staff is Assistant City Atty. Tom Wood, who has been the acting city

attorney since January; Senior Deputy City Atty. Marianne Milligan;

Deputy City Atty. Linda Nguyen; and paralegal/secretary Marilyn

Robinson. The positions of city attorney and legal secretary are

vacant.

The recommendation to keep work in-house instead of contracting

out for legal services mirrors the recommendation of Wood in a review

he presented to the council in June.

The independent review found the city’s legal staff isn’t

functioning at its maximum capability and that the current scope of

assignments doesn’t necessitate four attorneys. Management Partners

suggests the city attorney’s office bring litigation legal services

in-house. Since litigation work comprises the majority of external

counsel costs, it would be beneficial for in-house counsel to develop

litigation skills, the review states. This should be done gradually,

with less complicated cases being brought tin first and assigned to

an attorney with close supervision.

The review also suggests eliminating the legal secretary position

and replacing it with a part-time secretary-only position to reduce

costs. And by decreasing the staff, the workload is enough to warrant

an in-house legal staff, the report states.

Keeping the work in-house also allows the city easy access to

legal staff, the report states.

Council members told Management Partners that they are frustrated

by the task of overseeing the city attorney’s office and lack the

technical knowledge to oversee it. Therefore the company recommends

transferring oversight from the council to City Manager Allan Roeder.

Mayor Gary Monahan expressed concern that doing so could limit the

caliber of applicants in the recruitment for a new city attorney

since they might feel stifled being under the authority of the city

manager.

Management Partners President Jerry Newfarmer tried to allay

Monahan’s concern, saying he didn’t believe the move would deter

quality attorneys from applying.

Councilman Allan Mansoor said he thought the review was

comprehensive and agreed with some of the recommendations.

“It certainly is important to have legal counsel accessible and

available to you, so that’s certainly a factor to consider,” Mansoor

said. “They also gave some recommendations to tighten up the

expenditures. I want to make sure it’s run fairly and in a fiscally

responsible manner, and I think some of the recommendations showed

some ways we can do that.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa and may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.