Title
Adoption of Resolution Approving a Workforce Change in the City Attorney’s Office to Create a New Classification, Chief Assistant City Attorney; Add One Position, Chief Assistant City Attorney; and Amend the Executive Management (EXME) Salary Schedule to Add the Classification of Chief Assistant City Attorney, Effective October 13, 2019. (Human Resources 2510).
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City Attorney’s Office (CAO) has been operating for some time with a contract attorney providing legal services on a number of highly complex projects, most notably in the area of rent control. The CAO requests that the City Council bring these services in-house by creating a Chief Assistant City Attorney classification, which would then allow the City Attorney to appoint the attorney (currently under contract) to fill this position under Government Code, section 21224 (a). The contract would then be terminated. This change is expected to achieve costs savings for the City of Alameda (City) (estimated at $74,000 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-20) due to the in-house position being funded at a substantially lower rate than the existing contract.
BACKGROUND
The CAO has been operating for some time with a contract attorney providing legal services on a number of highly complex projects, most notably in the area of rent control. This attorney possesses significant and specialized skills in municipal law, having served as the City Attorney and special counsel for numerous jurisdictions in California. In recognition of such skills and expertise, between late 2018 and early 2019, City Council appointed this attorney to serve as the Interim City Attorney. Since the new City Attorney took his post in early May of 2019, the Interim City Attorney has returned to contract status with an hourly rate of $225 per hour, which was established in 2016. Funding for this contract position has been apportioned approximately 50% to the Rent Stabilization Fund, 25% to the Risk Management internal services fund and 25% to the General Fund. While this hourly rate is extremely competitive for private counsel services (reputable mid-priced private attorneys typically charge between $300 to $700 per hour in the Bay Area), it remains well in excess of in-house attorneys’ hourly rates.
DISCUSSION
Consistent with existing practice and operations, the CAO continues to have a need to have an attorney serving as the Chief Assistant. Creating an in-house classification would achieve significant savings as the in-house rate is proposed at $109 per hour, which is a significant reduction from $225 per hour. The contract employee has agreed to accept this reduction in pay.
Accordingly, the CAO requests that the City Council establish a new classification of “Chief Assistant City Attorney.” The salary for the new classification is requested to be established at 9% above the hourly wage for Assistant City Attorney and 8% below the hourly wage for City Attorney. This classification is requested to be an unrepresented 37.5 hour a week position covered by the Executive Management Compensation Plan.
|
|
Step 1 |
Step 2 |
Step 3 |
Step 4 |
Step 5 |
|
Hourly |
$89.6754 |
$94.1590 |
$98.8667 |
$103.8097 |
$109.00 |
|
Annual |
$174,867 |
$183,610 |
$192,790 |
$202,429 |
$212,550 |
If this change is made, the City Attorney intends to under-fill the position by appointing the attorney currently under contract to this position on a limited basis under Government Code, section 21224(a), that permits a person retired under CalPERS, who has specialized skills in performing work, to be so appointed, so long as the number of hours worked in a fiscal year do not exceed 960. The contract for legal services would then be terminated.
ALTERNATIVES
The Council may:
1. Create a new classification, Chief Assistant City Attorney; add a new position, Chief Assistant City Attorney, and amend the salary schedule to add the classification of Chief Assistant City Attorney (Staff Recommendation).
2. Create the position using a lower salary level. This could result in the attorney under contract not accepting the position.
2. Establish a part-time non-civil service classification of Attorney Part-time with nine salary steps. The top step would be $109 hourly and the bottom step would be $76.12 hourly. This could create organizational difficulties as it would be unclear if the attorney assigned to this position could continue to effectively serve as the Chief Assistant. Additionally, given the unique qualification, skill and experience of the attorney under contract, it would be extremely difficult to replace this attorney in the future using a part-time position.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This action is likely to reduce City expenditures by approximately $74,000 for the remaining 8 months of FY 2019-20 based on the reduction of the hourly rate paid for the position from $225 to $109 and the CAO’s expectation is to under-fill this position with an employee expected to work no more than 960 hours in any given fiscal year. Because the position would be filled with part-time staff, there would not be any cost for a car allowance, health benefits or retirement.
This level of savings is expected to continue in future years. In FY 2020-21, the projected annual savings is expected to exceed $110,000. In the future, this position could also be filled by a full-time employee. At that point, depending upon the step and level of the future appointment, the cost of the position may or may not exceed the cost of the current contract amount. Prior to filling the position full-time, the City Attorney will evaluate the budget impacts to ensure this position could be fully funded.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is in conformance with the Alameda Municipal Code and all policy documents.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activity is not a project and is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to 10561(b)(3) as there is no possibility that this action may have a significant effect on the environment.
CLIMATE IMPACT
This action provides more opportunity for enforcement based on Climate Action goals.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a resolution approving a workforce change in the City Attorney’s Office to create a new classification, Chief Assistant City Attorney; add one position, Chief Assistant City Attorney, and amend the Executive Management (EXME) salary schedule to add the classification of Chief Assistant City Attorney, effective October 13, 2019.
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
No recommendation.
Respectfully submitted,
Yibin Shen, City Attorney
Nancy Bronstein, Human Resource Director
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Elena Adair, Finance Director
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager