WESTMINSTER : Huge City Legal Fees Spur Funds Request

The City Council today will consider a request from the city attorney for the allocation to his office of an additional $100,000, half of which would be used for legal fees related to a lawsuit filed against the city by the Westminster Firefighters Assn.

With seven months left in the 1993-94 fiscal year, the city’s legal expenses are three times higher than the $60,000 that was budgeted, officials said.

City Atty. Richard Jones said $25,000 will be used for the appeal of an Orange County Superior Court judge’s ruling that the city acted unconstitutionally in banning a local gang from gathering in public.

Another $25,000 will be paid to the law firm of Liebert, Cassidy & Fierson for a variety of legal services, Jones said.

Since July, the city has spent more than $171,000 on legal costs, according to Mayor Charles V. Smith, raising concerns about its ability to provide basic services to residents.

In a report during a council meeting last month, Smith said the city is projecting the spending of more than $200,000 on legal fees by the end of the current fiscal year.

But with the additional $100,000 request the council will consider today, that estimate has already been surpassed.

“Legal fees are our biggest concern,” Smith said.

Since the firefighters sued the city in August, Jones said, the city has spent more than $100,000. The request for an additional $50,000 is standby money that will be used “as the lawsuit progresses,” he said.

The firefighters filed suit in Superior Court when five firefighters were laid off as part of a reorganization of the Fire Department.

The court later ruled that the city did not violate state law in laying off the firefighters, but Alan C. Davis, who represented the firefighters, said firefighters charge that the layoffs were politically motivated.

Right now, Davis said, the case is “inactive.”

Davis said they wouldn’t take any court action until the result of a recall drive started by supporters of the firefighters against Smith and council members Craig Schweisinger, Charmayne S. Bohman and Tony Lam.

Recall organizers started gathering signatures last month.

Recall proponents have until February to gather the required 6,900 signatures to force a recall election.