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File Number: 21-376 <br />Based upon this analysis, the City Council ultimately negotiated a new agreement with Meyers <br />Nave that eliminated the flat retainer structure, which was replaced by a fee-for-service <br />arrangement. Per the MRG analysis, this structure was designed to simplify the administration of <br />the contract and ultimately reduce the City’s costs. This analysis subsequently was presented to <br />the City Council for consideration on February 19, 2013. <br />On May 20, 2013, the City Council voted to adopt a new 13-month agreement with Meyers Nave, <br />effective from June 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014, which was subsequently extended for several <br />additional periods, with the current agreement set to expire on June 30, 2025. The current <br />agreement continues to utilize the fee-for-service cost structure. <br />The Financial terms of the existing agreement are as follows: <br />·Fiscal Year 2020-2021: $940,000 / General Services Hourly Rate: $275 <br />·Fiscal Year 2021-2022: $960,000 / General Services Hourly Rate: $280 <br />·Fiscal Year 2022-2023: $980,000 / General Services Hourly Rate: $285 <br />·Fiscal Year 2023-2024: CPI increase / General Services Hourly Rate: CPI increase <br />·Fiscal Year 2024-2025: CPI increase / General Services Hourly Rate: CPI increase <br />·Hourly rates for Cost Recovery would increase by the CPI each year. <br />Hourly rates for Litigation work would increase by the CPI each year. Cost Recovery rates <br />are charged to land use applicants as a reimbursement back to the City and are therefore <br />cost neutral, and litigation is as assigned by the City Council. <br />Analysis <br />The City has now been operating under the new contractual structure since 2013. Based upon <br />staff's analysis, the current contract structure is effective in controlling costs and generating <br />financial savings as predicted by the MRG analysis. <br />Nevertheless, the past fiscal year brought many complex challenges that were unexpected at the <br />time that the above financial terms were adopted. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the <br />City Attorney’s office was called upon to assist in the development of a host of new programs and <br />regulations designed to assist the City and the community in its efforts to respond to this once in a <br />lifetime public health emergency. Related to that, the City Council directed the City Attorney’s <br />office to participate in an unusually large number of meetings, and assist with advice and <br />generate work-product that could not have been foreseen when the budget was initially adopted. <br />Such events included advising upon and drafting policies to address the COVID-19 pandemic <br />including an eviction moratorium, proclamations of local emergencies, outdoor dining regulations, <br />food delivery company fee cap, and a local grocery workers hazard pay ordinance. The City <br />Attorney also advised upon the resignation of a city manager, recruitment and hiring of an interim <br />City Manager, and new City Manager, initiatives to address and advise upon public health orders, <br />measures to address local civil unrest in the wake of significant police killings nationally and <br />locally, increased labor and employment advice and counsel work related to resignations, <br />terminations, and significant changes to State and Federal law in response to COVID-19 safety <br />protocols, and advice and litigation defense on various matters, including most recently on the <br />Page 2 City of San Leandro Printed on 6/23/2021 <br />412