Title
Recommendation to Approve the Third Amendment to the Employment Agreement for the City Attorney, Effective July 13, 2025.
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On June 17, 2025, the City Council considered the recommendation of a City Council Subcommittee that had reviewed the salary of City Attorney Yibin Shen. As part of that consideration, in recognition of his performance, responsibilities and his salary relative to other comparison agencies, the City Council has indicated its intent to authorize an increase in the City Attorney’s annual salary by 6.41%, from $326,473 to $347,400, effective July 13, 2025. The recommendation is for the City Council to approve this increase by an amendment to Mr. Shen’s Employment Agreement and to provide in that amendment a list of cities and one County of Alameda classification to be used when, in future evaluations, surveys for salary and other employment benefits are conducted for the City Attorney.
BACKGROUND
Mr. Shen has been the City Attorney since May 2019. Consistent with longstanding practice, the City of Alameda (City) maintains an individual employment agreement with its City Attorney, which establishes the terms and conditions of employment for the City Attorney. Mr. Shen’s Employment Agreement and amendments are attached as Exhibits 1, 2, 3 and 4. The Agreement may be further amended as part of the City Attorney’s annual evaluation process. With the assistance of a facilitator (Rick Haydon with the Municipal Resource Group), the City Council completed the City Attorney’s annual evaluation earlier this year and authorized a 6% salary increase (to $326,473). As part of that evaluation process, Mr. Haydon had conducted a compensation (salary and benefits) survey for informational and comparative purposes
In March 2025, Mayor Ezzy Ashcraft appointed Councilmembers Boller and Daysog to an Ad Hoc Subcommittee (Subcommittee) to meet further with Mr. Haydon to review and assess the agencies used by the City for compensation survey purposes for the City Attorney and review any updated survey information.
The Subcommittee met four times with Mr. Haydon, and reviewed the agencies the City has historically used for comparative purposes and assessed whether such agencies are comparable agencies for the Alameda City Attorney, given the scope of work and responsibilities associated with the City Attorney’s Office. (Historically, the City has used the cities of Berkeley, Hayward, Livermore, Pleasanton, San Leandro, and Walnut Creek when conducting compensation surveys for the three Council appointed officials. These cities are the same agencies the City uses for its rank-and-file employee groups.)
DISCUSSION
During the Subcommittee deliberations, the Subcommittee concluded that the City Attorney’s Office provides a unique set of programs and services that most nearby Northern California cities do not. Also, unlike the surveyed cities historically used for comparative purposes, some of the cities outsource City Attorney services, specifically, the cities of San Leandro and Walnut Creek. With these two cities outsourcing City Attorney functions, only four cities remain for comparison which typically are not enough cities to make the survey viable. In addition, the Alameda’s City Attorney’s Office operates differently from most nearby surveyed agencies as it is responsible for local criminal prosecution, a rent control/housing program, and oversight of the police auditor - functions that are not handled by any other northern California City Attorney Office.
Since industry best practices for compensation surveys indicate that agencies should use at least six to seven comparable jurisdictions to be accurate, to improve the accuracy of the City Attorney’s compensation survey, Mr. Haydon added three additional cities from Southern California - Burbank, Pasadena, and Santa Monica - to the survey. These cities were added because they perform similar functions as the Alameda’s City Attorney’s Office. In addition, it was also suggested that the City consider adding the Chief Assistant County Counsel classification to future surveys because of its comparable duties and responsibilities and its proximity to the local labor market.
Including the above new cities and the County Counsel classification and, after updating the compensation survey, the Alameda City Attorney is still 6.41% below the median.
After considering the recommendation of the Subcommittee and considering where the City Attorney’s compensation is in the market, the City Council reached a tentative decision that would:
1) Revise the City Attorney’s salary up to the median, i.e., increasing his salary by 6.41% (to $347,400), effective July 13, 2025.
2) Provide in the Employment Agreement that the City use the following in future compensation surveys for the City Attorney position: the cities of Berkeley, Hayward, Livermore, Pleasanton, Burbank, Pasadena, and Santa Monica and the Chief Assistant County Counsel classification in the County of Alameda.
The Third Amendment to Mr. Shen’s Employment Agreement (Exhibit 5) sets forth these changes and is being presented for City Council’s approval. It authorizes a 6.41% increase in the City Attorney’s annual salary from $326,473 to $347,400, effective July 13, 2025. As before, the Agreement, as amended, continues to provide that Mr. Shen will also receive cost of living and other employment benefits that other executive management employees receive, including the general cost of living adjustment scheduled to be implemented on or about July 13, 2025.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Funds for this position are already included in the City Attorney’s department budget. No additional funds are required in Fiscal Year 2025-26.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the Alameda Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
City Council’s approval of this amendment to the City Attorney’s Employment Agreement is not a project and is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to section 15378(b)(4) of the CEQA guidelines, as it involves governmental fiscal activities which do not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
There are no identifiable climate impacts or climate action opportunities associated with the subject of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Approve the Third Amendment to the Employment Agreement for the City Attorney, effective July 13, 2025.
Respectfully submitted,
Rick Haydon, Municipal Resource Group
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Ross McCarthy, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Employment Agreement
2. Amended Employment Agreement
3. First Amendment to Amended Employment Agreement
4. Second Amendment to Amended Employment Agreement
5. Third Amendment to Amended Employment Agreement