Attorney to Keep City Employee Status

Despite the objections of Councilman Jim Potts, the City Council last week reaffirmed City Atty. James G. Rourke’s status as a municipal employee and said he should continue receiving benefits from the city.

Potts’ objection was that Rourke, the city’s attorney for more than 20 years, was receiving employee benefits for life and health insurance as well as a pension fund at the same time the city paid him on a contractual basis.

During the past four years, records show the city has paid Rourke and his law firm more than $1 million for those benefits and legal services.

Last week, Potts described Rourke’s fees as excessive. “He’s not a city employee, he’s an outside attorney,” Potts said.

Potts, who said he was not accusing Rourke of wrongdoing, suggested that hiring an in-house attorney would be more cost-effective.

“I’m not against the person, I’m against the practice,” Potts said at a recent City Council meeting.

Under his contract, Rourke receives a $6,000 monthly retainer. His contract requires him to attend meetings of the City Council and the Planning Commission and perform 35 hours of “basic legal services.”

For contractual services, the city also pays Rourke and his law firm, Orange-based Rourke, Woodruff & Spradlin, $120 an hour.

From mid-1989 until last month, Finance Department records indicate that Rourke and his firm received a total of almost $1.2 million for legal fees and benefits.

“We’re told that we’re getting a bargain at $120 per hour,” Potts said. “Even if he works every day of the year, 10 hours a day at $120 per hour, it would still be less than what he’s been charging us. It doesn’t seem we’re getting a bargain here.”

But last Tuesday, the City Council voted 4-1--with Potts dissenting--to reaffirm that Rourke is a city employee and therefore eligible for retirement benefits under the Public Employees Retirement System.

“He’s been (on the) city payroll for more than 20 years,” said City Manager William A. Huston. “His $6,000 retainer is compensation. It has been an employment relationship” between Rourke and the city.

Councilman Thomas R. Saltarelli agreed with Potts that an in-house lawyer may be the most cost-effective way to have a city attorney, but he added that “$120 an hour is still so low.”