To provide proactive legal advice to help the City achieve its goals in a lawful manner including both the Council’s Priority Workplan and the everyday ongoing operations of the City.

The City Attorney provides legal advice to the City Council, City Boards and Commissions, and City officials and employees on the Brown Act (open meetings), Public Records Act, land use, CEQA, public contracting, conflict of interests, real property, employment, finance, elections, utilities and other issues for a general law city. The City Attorney drafts and reviews ordinances, resolutions, opinions, contracts, releases, development agreements, reports, easements, deeds, and leases. The City Attorney manages the claims process and represents the City in legal actions.

The City Attorney’s client is the City itself and she cannot represent San Pablo citizens directly. The City’s website provides many links to helpful legal resources, as does the staff when asked.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and various legal issues that have been raised dominates the efforts during the past year, including but not limited to continuing declarations of emergency, revised operations plans, virtual meetings, sick leave and testing/vaccination policies, agreements with the County for facilities and services, FEMA reimbursements, digital signatures, hero pay ordinances and eviction moratoriums. In addition, the following legal matters were addressed during the FY 2021-22:

City Council:

Met with new Council Member to review legal issues and conducted annual litigation briefing for the City Council; provided advice regarding conflict of interest laws, Brown Act, and parliamentary procedure; and updated the City’s Conflict of Interest Code.

City Manager’s Office:

Provided advice and prepared ordinance and Impartial Analysis for sales tax measure extension; advised on disposition of Block E at Plaza San Pablo, former City Hall site, and Lifelong Medical building; advised regarding City Hall construction issues; updated telecommunications ordinance and prepared template telecommunications license agreement; advised regarding implementation of SPLASH first-time homebuyer program; advised on employment law issues including disciplinary actions; and reviewed or drafted temporary employment agreements.

City Clerk’s Office:

Provided legal advice on elections, Public Records Act requests (which have more than doubled over the past two years, from 102 requests in 2019 to 241 in 2021), Brown Act/agenda issues, records retention, and filling of City Clerk vacancy.

Community Services Department:

Drafted and reviewed contracts, waivers and policies, including agreements for Team for Youth and Public Profit.

Development Services Department:

Reviewed agenda and reports to the Planning Commission and attended Planning Commission meetings; advised on various land use matters including application for adult mental health facility and self-storage at 2600 El Portal; reviewed ordinances on accessory dwelling units, Zoning, and Residential Health and Safety program; assisted with orientation of new Planning Commissioners; and participated in monthly Development Review meetings.

Finance Department:

Prepared comprehensive letter to the auditors and advised on EBMUD Utility Users Tax Billing agreement.

Police Department:

Reviewed policy and procurement of drones; prepared staff report and ordinance for fireworks ban; advised on the hearing process for suspension of tobacco retailer’s license; drafted oppositions for six (6) Pitchess motions in FY21-22 to date (up from a total of five in FY 20-21) and attended court hearings; drafted petitions and attended court hearing on weapons confiscation matters; advised regarding illegal dumping issues; drafted and reviewed contracts including ShotSpotter, CAD/RMS and dispatch, and video cameras.

Public Works Department:

Updated bidding and contract documents for public works projects and maintenance projects; advised on consultant contract and insurance issues, bid protest, regional stormwater compliance project, and Soofa digital signs; reviewed and revised solid waste ordinance; and advised on implementing agreements.

Litigation

Managed or oversaw approximately 25 open claims and lawsuits that are filed against the City (and successfully reduced the number of open claims and lawsuits by over 40% over the past two years, from 39 open claims in March 2020 to 22 as of March 2022), as well as approximately 30 restitution claims against those who damage City property; and successfully pursued claims in PG&E bankruptcy.

The work of the City Attorney's Office is primarily determined by external factors: changes in legislation and case law affecting City operations; the needs of other City departments for legal advice, drafting, and representation; policy decisions made by the City Council; and the nature and number of claims and lawsuits filed against or by the City. Thus, the following objectives describe when and how legal services are provided:

Attend all meetings of the City Council and review all items prepared for City Council consideration before agenda material is distributed.

Attend all meetings of the Planning Commission and review significant matters before agenda material is distributed.

Attend all Executive Committee meetings to identify legal issues as early as possible.

Review the final form of every contract, resolution, or ordinance within one week of referral and either approve the form or indicate to the initiating department the reasons that the contract, resolution, or ordinance cannot be approved.

Respond to all written inquiries or requests to draft contracts and other legal documents within two weeks with either a completed response or an estimate of the date upon which a response will be completed, an indication of further information that is needed to prepare a response, or confirmation that a written response is no longer required.

The City Attorney’s Office is beginning an effort to track statistics such as numbers of contracts reviewed or drafted; number of agendas, resolutions or ordinances reviewed or drafted; number of Public Records Act responses; conflict of interest advice; litigation matters including subpoenas, Pitchess motions, weapons confiscations, claims, lawsuits and restitution claims.

An additional overarching objective for FY 2021/22 is to assist with the recruitment of a new City Attorney and the transition process.

The all-encompassing goal of all of these objectives is to support and promote the mission of the City Attorney’s Office, which is to provide proactive legal advice to help the City achieve its goals in a lawful manner including both the Council’s Priority Workplan and the everyday ongoing operations of the City.