TUSTIN : Council Rethinking City Attorney Policy

In the wake of City Atty. James G. Rourke’s resignation this week, the City Council is expected to consider whether the job should be a city staff position or kept on a contract basis. Rourke has been a contract city attorney with Tustin for 34 years.

Mayor pro tem Jim Potts said Tuesday the city’s two most expensive contracts, which are for legal services and trash collection, “ought to be put out to bid every five years.”

Potts said Rourke “did a good job while he was here,” but that “new blood” is needed in the position.

Councilman Jeffrey Thomas characterized Rourke as “an exemplary attorney,” and said Potts had tried to pressure Rourke into stepping down.

“People need to see this for what it is--Potts tried to throw him out,” Thomas said. “I think (Rourke’s) firm is terrific,” Thomas said of Orange-based Rourke, Woodruff and Spradlin.

Rourke, 68, denied he was being pressured to leave. “If I wanted to, I could have stayed on,” he said.

In a letter of resignation delivered to council members Monday, Rourke said it was time to “pass the baton” to Lois Jeffrey, one of his law firm partners.

“I really wish the best to the city of Tustin, and the staff,” Rourke said Tuesday. “I feel really privileged to help bring Tustin from a little village of 2,000 people in 1960 to a city approaching 60,000 now.”

Rourke’s retainer became an issue in the last council race. During the 1988-89 fiscal year, he requested and was granted a fee increase from $2,000 to $6,000 per month. The retainer is credited against hourly charges. Currently Tustin is charged $120 per hour for services performed by partners at the law firm.

Rourke said he requested the retainer hike so his pension payments from the Public Employees Retirement System would be “more realistic” based on his work history with the city.

The attorney retired from PERS in January, and his law firm’s monthly retainer was reduced to $4,000. Rourke said at the time that he did not want to be an issue in the April election.

Newly elected Councilman Michael J. Doyle, who spoke out against the size of Tustin’s legal expenses during the campaign, said he wants to determine whether the city would be better served by an in-house or a contract attorney.

The goal, he said, is for Tustin to “get the most bang for the buck.”