SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Council Votes to Hire New City Attorney

The City Council voted unanimously last week to hire a city attorney rather than employ a law firm on a contract basis.

The vote, prompted by the resignation of former city attorney John R. Shaw in March, allows the city to continue its seven-year practice of maintaining a full-time city attorney on staff. Although 21 of 29 cities in the county prefer to contract their legal services with law firms, the city staff recommended that the council seek another full-time city attorney.

“The cost-effectiveness of an in-house city attorney was the primary reason,” said George Scarborough, the assistant city manager. “But there were a series of reasons to continue having an attorney on the staff. An in-house attorney has a much greater ability to be responsive.”

Scarborough said the city has budgeted $101,000 for its city attorney for the fiscal year 1991-92.

Since Shaw’s resignation, the city has employed the services of Newport Beach-based Stradling, Yocca, Carlson and Rauth, the same firm that serves the city’s community redevelopment agency. Under their current contract with the Newport Beach firm, legal services for attorney Thomas P. Clark Jr. cost $175 an hour, Scarborough said.

Scarborough indicated that a new city attorney would not be hired until January, 1992, at the earliest.

In addition to paying a staff attorney to handle the city’s day-to-day legal business, the city also hires outside firms to handle special litigation. Currently three law firms are being retained, and some residents have criticized the city for racking up sizable bills with these firms.

One of those legal battles, the 28-month fight over the property owner’s right to build on “Porcupine Hill,” has already cost the city about $405,000 as of June, according to David Bentz, the city’s finance director. The court trial is not yet under way.