SR-605-000 (25)
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Clty Councll Meeting 1-10-84
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JAN 2 4 198~
Santa Monica, Callfornia
STAFF REPORT
TO: Mayor and Clty Councll
FROM: Robert M. Myers, Clty Attorney
SUBJECT: Recommendat~on to Increase Number of Permanent
Employees ~n C~ty Attorney's Office by 2 Attorneys
and 1 Legal Secretary
ThlS report recommends the addlt~on of two Deputy City
Attorney posltlons and a Legal Secretary pos~t~on to the Clvi1
Advlsory Division of the City Attorney's Office. The
attorneys would work on contractual and non-lltigation
advlsory matters relat~ng to the Santa Monlca Airport and to
land use I houslng I and economic development.
The secretary
would perform secretarlal and admlnistratlve duties for the
Clty Attorney, enab1~ng the existing secretarlal staff to work
for the new attorneys and rellevlng the current secretarial
overload on llt~gatlon and advisory matters.
The Clty Attorney's offlce comprises three divisions:
Crlmlnal, civil Litlgatlon, and C~vll Advisory.
The current
allocation of employees ass~gned to the three D~visions is as ~_~
follows: JAN 24. ISa.t
II-C
JI\K 1 0 \9&4
1
civil Adv. Civ~l L~t. Cr~m1nal
C~ty Attorney 1/3 1/3 1/3
Ass1stant City Attorney 3/4 1/8 1/8
Deputy C~ty Attorney 6 5 6
Consumer Affair Spec1al~st 2
Off~ce Manager 1/8 1/8 3/4
Cla1ms Superv~sor 1
W~tness Coordinator 1
Legal Secretar~es 4 1/3 3 1/3 2 1/3
The civ11 Adv1sory Div~sion is responsl.ble for all
adv1ce, opin1ons, and contract drafting, as well as all c1vl.l
Ii t1ga tion other than tort clalms for money damages.
There
are currently S1X Deputy Clty Attorneys asslgned to the CiVl1
Adv1sory Division, lncludlng a Chlef Deputy who performs
administratlve functions. One Deputy 1S currently responsible
for almost all of the contract draftl.ng and related work; one
other Deputy lS responsible for almost all advlce and opinions
for the Planning Department and Plannlng Commission.
All SlX
Deputles spend a substantial amount of time ln 11 t~ga tlon
actl.vlties.
There are four Legal Secretar1es who functlon as staff
to the C1Vl1 Advisory Deputles, as well as to the Clty
Attorney, Asslstant C1ty Attorney, and two Consumer Affairs
Speclalists.
The lncreased workload of the CiVll Advlsory D1vislon
1S based upon the followl.ng factors:
1. Litigation.
The number of new cases flIed against
the Clty concernlng non-tort matters has steadl.ly declined.
The following is a four year summary:
2
1981
1982
1983
76
49
38
Wh~le the number of cases has dropped, the complex~ty of
cases f~led has increased. Thus, although we believe that the
careful adv~ce that we prov~de the C1ty avo1ds lit~gat1on, the
comp1eXl ty of Ii tlga tlon results ln added demands upon the
Civil Adv~sory DlviSlon.
In 1983, the complex cases have
included antitrust litigation concern~ng the City's recycl1ng
program, the Shell p1peline 1itlgat1on,
the Nash, Pines, and
Baker cases, successful appellate dec1s1ons 1n two elect~on
cases, recovery of buses from Western Coach, Moby's Dock
bankruptcy proceedlngs, and personnel llt~gation in federal
and state courts.
Of particular s~gn~f~cance is the number
of cases flied ~n federal court, which generally requ1re
greater tlme commltrnents.
2.
()plnlons.
Pursuant to the direction of the City
Counc~l and City Manager, city staff 1S ~nvolved ~n a varlety
of lnnovative proJects.
In add1t1on, in order to avo1d
llt~gatlon, the City Attorney has stressed the importance of
legal advice before undertake act~v~tles in uncharted areas.
As a result, the number of opinions wr~tten by the Clty
Attorney I s Office has lncreased.
The following ~s a three
year summary:
1981
1982
1983
73
56
154
3
3. Contracts. The number of contracts prepared by the
City Attorney's Off~ce that requ~re substant~al time
commitments has ~ncreased.
4. Santa Monica Alrport. The Santa Monica Alrport has
required the substantlal COmml tment of the As si stant Cl ty
Attorney and other deputy city attorneys concerning 11tlgatlon
matters. The approval of the Santa Mon1ca Airport Master
Plan requlres substantial new work from this offlce, including
the development and enforcement of a noise ordlnance,
negotlations wlth eXlstlng lessees, varlOUS legal documents
concerning development of northslde fixed-base operatlons, and
legal documents concerning development of the residual land.
These new proJects wl11 require at least the time-equlvalent
of a full-tlme attorney. The cont~nued reliance on the
ASslstant City Attorney to perform many of these dut1es
substantially interferes wlth accompllshment of admln1strative
objectives of the City Attorney.
5. Santa Monlca Pler. The 1983 Winter storm damage to
Santa Monica pier has increased the workload of the City
Attorney's Office. In addition, the development of the Pler
GUldelines, the formatlon of the Pler Restoratlon Corporation,
and the desire to entlre lnto new pler leases has also
contributed to the new workload.
In 1983, actlvltles lnclude
preparation of a number of profess1onal service agreements,
lncluding two lengthy agreements for archltectural and
englneerlng services, formation of the pier Restoration
Corporation, and preparatlon of a standard pier lease.
4
6. Housing, Land Use and C~rculation Elements. In
early 1983, the City Council adopted the Housing Element. The
other comm~tments of the C1ty Attorney have made 1t d~ff1cult
to take some of the act10n requ1red by the City Attorney to
1mplement the Hous1ng Element. In add1 t1on, in 1984, it is
11kely that signlf1cant work- from the C1ty Attorney wlll be
required 1n connection w1th the anticipated adoption and
development of the Land Use and C1rculation Elements.
7. Hous1ng and Econom~c Development Activities. The
C1ty Councll has approved increased respons1b1l1t1es and
personnel 1n the Commun1ty and Economic Development
Department. The var10US activities of this Department, 10
such areas as formation of the Thlrd Street Mall Corporatlon
and housing development require signiflcant legal resources.
Although the activlties of the CiVl1 Advisory D1V1Slon
have increased, the City Attorney during 1983-84 reduced the
allocatlon of deputy city attorney pos1tlons by one deputy.
Th1S was effectuated by transferring a vacant posltlon to the
Crim1nal Division, where workload problems are even more
severe than 1n the C1V1l Advlsory Division.
The allocat1on of flve attorneys for the Crlm1nal
Dlvlslon was made at a tlme when only three courts requlred to
be staffed. The staff1ng pattern permitted sufficient
personnel to provlde daily court stafflng and the
time-consuffilng prefiling review and 1nvest1gatlon. However,
wi th the addition of a fourth courtroom to be staffed on a
daily basls, flve deput1es slmply dld not provlde suff1cient
5
coverage. The pressure on indlvldual deput~es caused by
dally court appearances, after-hour case preparation,
lncreased caseloads and number of trlals required the additlon
of at least one deputy c~ty attorney.
Asslgnment of New Personnel
Currently, one deputy city attorney lS assigned to work
excluslvely ln the area of contractual matters and litigation
resulting out of those contracts. The two new attorneys would
work with her to provide non-l~t~gation serVlces related to
Santa Monlca Alrport and housing and community development
act~vities, and other contractual matters (e.g., beach
concess~ons, etc.)
The add~t~onal secretary would be asslgned to the City
Attorney. The Clty Attorney has never had a secretary
assigned to perform his administrative and secretarlal
proJects. He has relled upon the collective efforts of
secretaries in the offlce and hlS own tlme expended on
clerical matters. A legal secretary ass~gned excluslvely to
the City Attorney will ~ncrease h~s effectlveness and provide
addit10nal needed secretar1al time to the C1Vll Advisory
Dlvision.
Budget and Flscal Impact
It is estlmaed that $44,000 would necessary to fund
these posltions through the end of the current flscal year.
Funds are available 1n the non-departmental salary reserve
account, Number 01-700-274-000-101. No add1tlonal appropriate
1S necessary.
6
Recommendation
It J.s respectfully recommended that the C 1. ty Counc J.l
increase the number of permanent employees in the City
Attorney's Off1.ce by two deputy city attorneys and one legal
secretary and that $44,000 be transfered from Account Number
01-700-274-000-101 to CJ.ty Attorney Account Number
01-100-231-000-100.
PREPARED BY:
Robert M. Myers, CJ.ty Attorney
Stephen Shane Stark, AssJ.stant C1.ty Attorney
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