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File Number: 14-237 <br />1)Continue to Contract for City Attorney services <br />2)Implement an In-House City Attorney’s Office <br />3)Issue a Request for Proposals for City Attorney Services <br />The attached MRC report also recommended that if the City Council ultimately proceeded with <br />Option 1, that it should attempt to negotiate into a new agreement that eliminated the flat <br />retainer structure, to be replaced by a fee-for-service arrangement. Based upon the MRC <br />analysis, this structure would simplify the administration of the contract and ultimately reduce <br />costs for the City. This analysis subsequently was presented to the City Council for its <br />consideration on February 19, 2013. <br />On May 20, 2013, the City Council voted to adopt a new 13-month agreement (attached) with <br />Meyers Nave, to be effective from June 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014. Consistent with the <br />approach outlined in Option 1, the agreement incorporated a fee-for-service cost structure, <br />with annual fees for service not to exceed $778,700 during the contract period, which included <br />a $50,000 set-aside for retention by the City Manager of special counsel. This amount <br />became the general city attorney services budget for the City, effectively creating a budget <br />cap of $778,700 for all general counsel type legal services. <br />Analysis <br />The City of San Leandro has now been operating under the new contractual structure for <br />nearly one year, and based upon staff’s analysis , the current contract structure has been <br />effective in controlling costs and has generated financial savings as predicted by the MRC <br />analysis. Specifically, to date the City has expended approximately $479,125 on City Attorney <br />services, and staff’s projections indicate that any outstanding expenditures for the remainder <br />of the current fiscal year will remain below the not-to-exceed threshold that was adopted by <br />the City Council as part of the current contract. <br />Fiscal Impacts <br />For Fiscal Year 2014-2015, the amended not-to-exceed amount for “city attorney/general <br />counsel services” would be $783, 200 (exclusive of reimbursable costs) budgeted in the City <br />Attorney division account. This amount includes a $50,000 set-aside that may be used by the <br />City Manager at his discretion for outside legal assistance, consistent with the existing <br />Agreement. Per the Agreement, this not-to-exceed amount is a “hard cap” that the City has <br />no obligation to increase. These costs incorporate a 2% increase from the prior fiscal year in <br />order to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the San <br />Francisco/Oakland/San Jose Bay Area Region over the past year . Additional details are <br />provided in the associated Resolution, to which the draft contract Amendment has been <br />attached. <br />ATTACHMENT <br />Attachments to Staff Report <br />·Legal Services Report from Municipal Resource Group, LLC <br />·Current Legal Services Agreement <br />Page 2 City of San Leandro Printed on 6/10/2014