SEAL BEACH : Council Accused of Brown Act Violation

The district attorney’s office has received a complaint that the City Council may have violated the state’s open-meeting law in hiring an attorney to represent three council members sued over the wording of ballot arguments for Tuesday’s election.

Concerns that the City Council might have violated the Ralph M. Brown Act--intended to keep governmental bodies from acting secretly--have been raised at the past two council meetings.

Councilman Joe Hunt and resident Lee Risner, a former Seal Beach city manager, questioned how attorney Tom Feeley was hired for $10,000 to represent council members Gwen Forsythe, Marilyn Bruce Hastings and Frank Laszlo.

Feeley defended the three council members in lawsuits filed by the city clerk and council members Hunt and Edna Wilson. The lawsuits challenged the wording of ballot arguments, saying they might mislead voters. Feeley also filed a countersuit against Hunt and Wilson.

Legal fees for Hunt and Wilson were paid for by the Mola Development Corp.-backed committee that supported Measure A-91, the developer’s plan for building homes on the Hellman Ranch property. Voters rejected Measure A-91 this week.

The city charter gives the council power to hire an attorney for litigation. But the council never discussed that decision either at a public meeting or in an executive session, Hunt said.

“When was the attorney hired?” asked Risner, now city manager of La Habra. “There was no discussion in a public meeting before his hire, only after his being hired and representing the majority in court was the matter brought to the council in open session.”

Forsythe defended the majority’s actions. “That decision to hire the attorney was something that the city manager and city attorney took care of. The three of us never discussed it,” Forsythe said. “When we found out that we were being named in a lawsuit, I contacted our city attorney. We had nothing to do with the selection or hiring.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Guy N. Ormes said this week that his office has received a complaint concerning the matter and will decide in the next few weeks whether to open an inquiry.

Seal Beach City Atty. Quinn Barrow said Acting City Manager Bob Archibold, who did not return telephone calls from The Times, hired the attorney. Barrow said he talked to several council members about hiring an attorney but does not think that constitutes a violation of the Brown Act.

Barrow said the city charter permitted him or the city manager to hire Feeley.

However, a 1985 California appellate court ruling found that a series of individual telephone calls between a redevelopment agency attorney and the agency members constituted a meeting. In that case, the agency attorney individually polled the members of the agency for their approval on a real estate transaction.