TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Bruce Moe, Acting City Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Consideration of a Resolution Approving an Amending to a Legal Services Agreement with Richards, Watson & Gershon for City Attorney Services to Designate Quinn M. Barrow as City Attorney and to Increase the Monthly Rate for General Services to $24,000 (Acting City Manager Moe).
ADOPT RESOLUTION; APPROVE AGREEMENT
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt Resolution No. 14-0043 Approving an Amendment to the Agreement between the City of Manhattan Beach and Richards, Watson & Gershon, a Professional Corporation, for City Attorney Services (the "Amendment") to:
1. Designate Quinn M. Barrow as City Attorney;
2. Increase the scope of general services to include office hours, and attendance at additional City Council meetings and Commission meetings, upon request; and
3. Increase retainer from $19,500 to $24,000 per month
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The existing Agreement (Attachment 1) provides for a flat rate of $19,500 per month for General City Attorney legal services, to be supplemented by expenditures for additional legal services as needed. As proposed in the amendment, the monthly retainer would be increased to $24,000 per month. This increase can be accommodated in the City Attorney's FY 2014-15 budget as proposed.
BACKGROUND:
After an extensive search, the City appointed Richards, Watson & Gershon ("RWG") as its City Attorney, and designated Roxanne Diaz to serve as City Attorney in September 2011. The monthly rate for general services was established at $19,500. The contract provided that such rate would stay in effect for a minimum of one year.
DISCUSSION:
Quinn Barrow has served as City Attorney under the contract with RWG since June 2012. Due to an increase in the number of council meetings, the complexity of planning matters, and substantial increases in development, construction, Public Records Act requests, and environmental compliance, staff has requested regular office hours, attendance at certain Planning Commission meetings, and the City Council has requested City Attorney Office attendance at numerous adjourned City Council meetings, workshops and study sessions.
At the time of the transition from an in-house City Attorney to a contract City Attorney in 2011, staff was requested to provide, in the future, a comparison between legal services provided pre-2012 and post 2012. Because of the cyclical nature of litigation and varying demand for City Attorney services especially given a number of high profile and complex matters in the initial period of RWG's engagement, it would be very difficult to make an informed financial analysis comparing the costs, beyond the obvious savings in not paying salary and benefits to an in-house city attorney. A qualitative review would indicate higher quality and more responsive legal services are being rendered given the breadth of knowledge and experience that is provided by a full-service firm with experience and expertise in a variety of area's related to municipal law. Staff has relied heavily on RWG's expertise and knowledge in areas such as NPDES and environmental compliance, Proposition 218 requirements, the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, inter-governmental agreements (e.g., the joint use agreement with the School District) and land use and planning law.
The changes proposed to the existing agreement are:
· Designating Quinn Barrow as City Attorney
· Increasing the retainer from $19,500 to $24,000 a month
· Adding office hours
· Adding attendance at additional City Council meetings and Commission meetings, upon request
The vast majority of Mr. Barrow's time will be billed to General Services and thus will be covered under the retainer. However, on occasion, he will continue to work on complex environmental matters and major projects, which will be billed as additional services, as is what occurs presently.
CONCLUSION:
The integration of the contract City Attorney model has progressed well as the three year mark is approached and modification of the contract is recommended to reflect current operational requirements and demand for services in a continuing cost effective manner.
Attachments
1. Existing Agreement with Richards Watson & Gershon
2. Resolution No. 14-0043
3. Amendment to Agreement for City Attorney Services