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As the leader in our firms’ multi-member labor team, I provide personnel and labor advice, including management and harassment training for local government employers, assisting in bargaining and drafting MOU’s and other employment agreements, preparing personnel rules and providing ongoing legal assistance in labor and employment disputes, grievances and discipline matters, and other employment issues applicable to both safety and non-safety public employees. In addition to providing labor and employment advice to our firm’s various clients throughout California, I am the legal labor advisor to the Citrus Heights Water District.
In addition to labor and employment legal support, I regularly advise councils, commissions, and boards on the full range of local government issues, including , zoning, land use, water and storm water regulation, economic development, public works and contracting, drafting of legislation and contracts, LAFCO matters, and advice on the Brown Act, Public Records Act, and Political Reform Act.
Matthew T. Summers, whom we propose as Assistant City Attorney, is City Attorney to the Cities of Ojai and Barstow, Interim Assistant City Attorney to the City of Tracy, and a Shareholder in our firm. Named as one of the prestigious “Top 40 Under 40” of California lawyers by the Daily Journal in 2021, he has focused his entire career representing public entities, including prior service as City Attorney to the City of Calabasas and my successor as General Counsel to the Orangeline Development Authority until it closed, having accomplished its mission. Matt has been licensed to practiced law in California since 2011 and is among a handful of lawyers in the state in private practice with a demonstrated expertise with the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act. In addition to his LAFCO-specific work, Matt’s expertise spans all aspects of public agency law, including general municipal law, land use, housing, CEQA, elections, City/railroad relations, airport management, conflicts of interest and transparency laws, telecommunications, and public agency litigation. With fourteen years’ experience in attending public meetings to advise legislative bodies both in open and closed session, Matt has advised cities on nearly every issue they face.
Supplementing our experience in public law is the rest of Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley’s legal team of highly experienced attorneys. As demonstrated by our public clients, our attorneys have experience in a wide-range of areas such as conflicts of interest, Brown Act, Municipal Finance, election law, land use, environmental law, water conservation and storm water regulation, telecommunications, economic development, real estate, and eminent domain. Our strong litigation department has represented public agencies throughout California in complex litigation matters including but not 643
Jim Schutz
May 9, 2025
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limited to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), eminent domain, contracts, land use, election disputes, and municipal revenue and finance.
Rates: Although our standard hourly rates range from $250 to $605 per hour for attorneys and from $175 to $200 per hour for paralegals, we will agree to provide all general advisory legal services to the City of American Canyon at a blended rate for the services of any of our attorneys of $275 per hour, with litigation and specialized legal services at the blended rate of $385 per hour.
Our proposal is firm and irrevocable for 90 days after the date of this letter and thereafter, if the City has not yet made a decision regarding City Attorney, provided we have an opportunity to reevaluate our proposed rates at that time. I, as a Shareholder and Vice-President of CHW have authority to bind the firm to a contract for our services.
We would be very pleased to provide legal support services as City Attorney, including labor and employment legal services, to the City of American Canyon. Thank you for the opportunity to propose our services. Please let me know if additional references or any other additional information would be helpful.
Very truly yours,
Teresa L. Highsmith
TLH:mom
cc: Matthew T. Summers
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COVER LETTER............................................................................................................................2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ...............................................................................................................5 QUALIFICATIONS ......................................................................................................................9 a. The overall capabilities, qualifications, training, and areas of expertise for each of the partners/principals and associates that may be assigned to work with the City......................................................................9 b. Specify the individual that you propose for appointment as City Attorney..................................................................................................................9 c. Specify the individual(s), if any, that you would propose as Assistant or Deputy City Attorney and/or who would be
designated as competent, substitute/backup legal representation for the City, in the event of the absence or unavailability of the City Attorney..................................................................................................................9 d. Describe how you would structure the working relationship between the City Attorney and the City Council, City Manager, Department Heads, City Commissions, and other members of staff..........14 e. Specify intended office location and accessibility to the City’s needs, including proposal for hours and day(s) of week for regular established office hours at City Hall. ...............................................................15 f. Describe systems/mechanisms that would be established to ensure timely responses to City Council and City staff. What would be the response time we can expect from the City Attorney to inquiries made by the City Council or City Manager. ...................................................15 g. Describe systems/mechanisms that would be established for monthly reporting of status of projects, requests, and litigation.................16 h. Identify the types of reports your firm will provide to the City Council and City Manager.................................................................................16 i. Describe your firm’s suggested process for transmitting requests and other material to the City Attorney. Describe how you propose assignments be assigned to the City Attorney, how will you assemble annual goals and objectives, and how do you propose those goals/objectives be evaluated..................................................................17 645
j. The City of American Canyon is a growing city with many active development sites. Describe your approach to using development agreements to implement specific plans. What key considerations should the city keep in mind when negotiating a development agreement in this context? .................................................................................17 k. Describe the staffing of your office, including all permanent and temporary employees and their general duties and work schedules.
Include any changes you would propose, now or in the future, should you be awarded a contract to provide legal services to the City........................................................................................................................18 l. It is anticipated that the City will contractually require monthlyitemized statements for all services and will subject these statements to audit at least annually. Describe how you would provide for this reporting. .................................................................................18 m. Please submit an example of a typical invoice your firm provides to a public agency. Please redact any references to specific costs or sensitive information. We are interested in the format, type of information included, and readability.............................................................19 n. Identify the types of in-service training your firm can provide, such as ethics and AB 1234, commission roles and responsibilities, how to conduct performance evaluations, harassment, etc. .................................19 o. Disclose any litigation with any local government clients of the proposed City Attorney or firm within the last ten years and provide a description..........................................................................................20 p. Provide three references of clients within the last five years including contact information and brief description of services. ................21 q. Any additional information that you believe should be given consideration. ......................................................................................................22 SAMPLE INVOICE.....................................................................................................................23 RESUMES.....................................................................................................................................28 INSURANCE ...............................................................................................................................41 SPECIALIZED AREAS OF LAW..............................................................................................42 a. Experience in land use development, particularly as it relates to industrial development, low-and moderate-income housing, and tourist-oriented retail development. ................................................................42 646
b. Experience with Airport Land Use Compatibility Law ................................42 c. Experience with Fire District Law ....................................................................42 d. Experience with the California Water Code ...................................................43 e. Experience with dealing with Railroads and the California Public Utilities Commission ..........................................................................................43 POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST..............................................................................45 a. Please list any political contributions of money, ion-kind services, or loans made to any member of City Council within the last three years by the applicant law firm and all its attorneys, including the attorney proposed to represent the city...........................................................45 b. Please list all public agency clients for which your firm currently provides services or are under retainer. ..........................................................45 c. Please list all public agency clients for which your firm previously provided services over the last 5 years/...........................................................48 d. For the firm and/or the proposed City Attorney, please specify current or known future professional commitments so that the City may evaluate your continuing availability for providing legal services to the City..............................................................................................48 COST PROPOSAL.......................................................................................................................50 a. Please give your definition of “general” legal services. Would all general services be included in your monthly retainer? Can “general” services be broken out between General Fund,
Development Funded, and Enterprise Funded Services?.............................50 b. Please give your definition of “special” legal services? How are they differentiated from general legal services? Would any special services be included in your retainer? If so, please identify them.
Identify the specific process of how any special legal services would be assigned. .............................................................................................52 c. How would your firm work with the City to remain within its adopted budget for its legal services?..............................................................53 d. Describe your firm’s preference for method of payment, payment terms, and your procedure for billing of retention, hours, and expenses and any other accounting requirements. Please provide hourly rates for all types of services.................................................................54 647
e. Define the type and unit rates for reimbursement of expenses; for example, rate for mileage, reproduction of documents, or word processing charges, etc. ......................................................................................55 f. Do you expect to have cost-of-living adjustment incorporated into the agreement with the city? if so, please explain how you propose it be computed and implemented.....................................................................55 SAMPLE CONTRACT ...............................................................................................................56 ATTACHMENT A: CHW NEWSLETTER..............................................................................69 648
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9 QUALIFICATIONS
a. The overall capabilities, qualifications, training, and areas of expertise for each of the partners/principals and associates that may be assigned to work with the City
b. Specify the individual that you propose for appointment as City Attorney.
c. Specify the individual(s), if any, that you would propose as Assistant or Deputy City Attorney and/or who would be designated as competent, substitute/backup legal representation for the City, in the event of the absence or unavailability of the City Attorney.
The primary contact for this proposal is:
Teresa L. Highsmith, Shareholder
790 E. Colorado Blvd., Suite 850
Pasadena CA 91101
(213) 542-5703
[email protected]
We propose these lawyers and staff as the City of American Canyon’s City Attorney’s Office primary team, supported by the other professionals in our Firm:
City Attorney’s Office Team
Teresa L. Highsmith City Attorney
Matthew T. Summers;
Mackenzie Anderson;
Andrew Jared
Assistant City Attorney
Matthew T. Summers;
Mackenzie Anderson Planning Commission Counsel
John Abaci;
Meghan Wharton Chief Litigation Counsel
Evelyn Scott Paralegal
Maria Oba Minassian Administrative Assistant
With our collective knowledge base and strong municipal law skill set, we are confident our team will exceed the service needs of the City. 649
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10 Our Firm was founded in 2002 when several members from other established firms formed the firm now known as Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC. Our founders left their former firms in part due to divided loyalties between public and private clients, as they wanted to focus on serving cities and public entities, not developers or other private entities.
CHW is a recognized leader in California municipal law. We represent local government agencies, including cities, special districts, and local agency formation commissions, nearly exclusively. Our attorneys are well versed in every aspect of transactional, advisory, and litigation practice for municipalities in California. We serve about 150 agencies statewide, including several water districts, fire districts, community choice aggregate electric utilities, and LAFCOs and we are experienced in representing cities in every aspect of municipal law. We can meet all the legal needs of the City, whether litigation or transactional/advisory, through high-quality, cost-effective, direct legal support.
Our core commitment is to provide advice our clients find helpful, understandable, and fairly priced. We are widely known for achieving positive outcomes and helping our general counsel clients accomplish their goals, and for defending their actions successfully in the courts of appeal or trial courts. We have grown from six professionals and one office in 2002, to now employing 35 attorneys and another twenty paralegals, legal secretaries, and administrative professionals, based out of six offices in Pasadena, Grass Valley, Orange County, San Diego, Sonoma, and Sacramento.
Our experience spans all facets of public agency law facing cities, including the Brown Act, election law, conflicts of interest law, matters arising under the Public Records Act, land use, housing and planning, public revenues and financing, labor and employment, public safety, public works contracting, the California Environmental Quality Act, federal and state environmental laws, telecom law, water, public electric and other utilities, LAFCO matters, and any related litigation.
Our Approach: Advice Tailored With Your Goals and Principles in Mind We strive to understand the needs of our clients so we can tailor our advice to help them achieve their goals in a way that aligns with their principles. We devise creative solutions to complex issues, helping to find the best path to meet their goals. We focus on preventative law directed at addressing legal problems before resorting to timeconsuming and expensive litigation. Often, we find that a matter can be resolved with a shrewd, legal negotiated solution that considers and meets the goals of our client and those of the other parties.
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11 If litigation is required, we are well equipped to vigorously represent our clients’ interests in court. At the same time, we look for opportunities to settle litigation and reduce our clients’ costs. In working with the City Council, City Manager, Department Heads, and other City staff, we define our role as a member of the management team— providing legal advice and options (but not policy direction)--working to help the City meet its objectives.
We are committed to fully understanding, fitting into, and upholding the unique culture in the City of American Canyon. We are confident that our thoughtful approach to legal services aligns with the City of American Canyon’s fundamental principles:
· Our approach to city attorney services is grounded in recognition of the commitment of the City Council and operational staff to engaging the community meaningfully and inclusively. We believe that effective legal representation involves not just legal expertise but also an understanding of and responsiveness to the diverse needs and perspectives of the community.
We actively seek to foster open lines of communication, ensuring that our strategies and recommendations are in harmony with the values and priorities of the City Council.
· Respectful and creative problem-solving is at the heart of our practice. We approach each issue with a mindset that values innovative solutions. Our team is skilled at navigating complex legal challenges with a focus on crafting practical advice aligned with the City's broader goals. We have extensive experience in providing legal advice on unique and controversial issues. Our aim is to identify options and solutions for the City to achieve its goals, rather than providing blanket “yes” or “no” answers to legal questions. · Teamwork and kindness are central to our ethos. We pride ourselves on our collaborative approach, working closely with city elected and appointed officials, department heads and key staff, and other stakeholders to achieve common objectives. Our attorneys are approachable and dedicated to building positive working relationships, which we believe are crucial for effective legal representation, and building and maintaining community trust. · Fiscal responsibility is a priority in our service delivery. We understand the importance of managing legal costs as part of our duty to the communities we serve. Our Firm is committed to providing high-quality, fairly priced legal services that offer value and align with the city's budgetary constraints. As outlined in this response, we have several strategies and practices that allow us to control costs.
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12 · Ethical conduct is the cornerstone of our practice. We adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professionalism, ensuring that all our actions comply with legal and ethical guidelines. We understand the importance of maintaining public trust and are dedicated to upholding the principles of fairness and transparency.
Robust Team, Modern Resources, and Efficient Integration With the City and Staff In addition to the core legal team proposed, our team includes 35 attorneys, working from our 6 offices, and remotely or on-site as needed. All of our offices are staffed Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. The Firm also employs paralegals and legal secretaries who specialize in both litigation and transactional matters.
Our paralegals support litigation matters in several ways, including by preparing documents for administrative records and discovery responses, managing and preparing exhibits for hearings and trials, and supporting depositions and trials. Our paralegals also support our advisory clients by reviewing documents for applicable privileges and exemptions for Public Records Requests and subpoenas, and helping in contract review and document preparation.
Our legal secretaries are trained to provide word processing and additional administrative support, including use of our sophisticated macro packages to simplify document development. We do not, however, charge for word processing or secretarial overtime.
The Firm maintains a comprehensive electronic library of legal memoranda, training materials, and agreements, ordinances, and documents of every kind which have been prepared for its various public agency clients. Unlike some firms which charge a flat rate for the Firm’s work product, we recycle this extensive body of knowledge, charging the client only to update and customize the existing work. 652
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13 Wide-Ranging Municipal Law Experience
Our Firm is comprised of several practice groups:
· Municipal General Counsel and Advisory: Our attorneys cover all City Council and Planning Commission meetings for our City Attorney clients. As part of our everyday practice, we have drafted legislation on every imaginable topic of interest to a public entity, as well as supporting staff reports. We regularly review and draft simple and complex agreements including, but not limited to, real property agreements (whether for acquisition or regulation), construction and subdivision agreements, professional services agreements, public works project bidding documents, and development agreements.
We conduct annual trainings on the Brown Act, Public Records Act, conflict of interest laws, harassment prevention, changes in land use law, and new legislation. We conduct trainings every two years on AB 1234 for City officials. We also regularly advise cities and other public agencies on election law issues, from advising cities on initiatives and referendums, to preparing ballot measures, arguments for and against, impartial analyses, and advising as to candidate qualifications and ballot designation issues.
· Public Finance: The Firm includes California’s leading experts on local government revenues, including Propositions 13, 26 and 218. Michael Colantuono, leads the team on all public financing matters, particularly focusing on setting, defending, and challenging retail and wholesale water, sewer, and electricity municipal utility rates and Cities’ taxes and other revenue measures.
As an example of our impactful work on public finances, Mr. Colantuono and Matthew Slentz, one of our Senior Counsel litigators, wrote the amicus brief for the League of California Cities, California Special Districts Association, California State Associations of Counties, and other local government organizations that helped persuade the California Supreme Court to remove the California Business Roundtable’s “Taxpayer Deception Act” initiative from the statewide ballot last year — helping protect local revenues statewide.
· Labor and Employment: Our labor and employment law practice includes advice, training, drafting personnel rules and policies, drafting employment agreements and advising on PERS issues, representation in administrative proceedings and litigation in a wide variety of matters, including wrongful termination claims, disability and other discrimination claims, employee development and discipline, union and management rights issues, drafting and interpreting Memoranda of 653
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14 Understanding with bargaining units, and unemployment benefit disputes before the State Employment Development Department. We have also advised cities through alternative dispute resolutions for labor matters, including complex employee discipline cases subject to advisory or binding arbitration and disputes before the Public Employment Relations Board.
· Litigation Practice: Our Firm represents public entities in matters from simple code enforcement to complex matters of first impression impacting cities statewide. Our litigators have broad experience in public-sector litigation and such private-sector topics as general commercial litigation, employment law, and unfair competition. We can oversee and manage collection lawsuits, as needed. We also have extensive experience litigating elections matters, and are proficient at the fast pace and novel, often first-impression issues raised by rocket-docket elections lawsuits.
We have in-house capabilities to advise, and if necessary, initiate and defend litigation pertaining to the Public Records Act, election law, general liability and risk management not handled by the risk pool, environmental law, including CEQA, NPDES and other environmental law matters, contracts and franchises, water rights, public finance/rate making, real estate, land use, construction defects, and code compliance. We have a successful litigation track record at all levels, including an extensive practice in the California Courts of Appeal and the California Supreme Court.
Although we do not serve as “bond counsel,” we are experienced in drafting components of Official Statements and in interpreting bond covenants and purposes. d. Describe how you would structure the working relationship between the City Attorney and the City Council, City Manager, Department Heads, City Commissions, and other members of staff.
We see our relationship with the City Council and other decision-makers to be that of a counselor and service provider, as an independent contractor. We do not attempt to direct policy decisions, but rather, offer options and solutions to help you reach your desired outcome. We understand that the City Attorney is not a policy maker or a manager but rather assists those in these positions with accurate, timely, and helpful advice. We usually work closely with the City Manager and staff. That said, our client is the City Council, and our duty of loyalty resides there.
We track the progress of legislation likely to impact public agencies, as well as significant case law developments and forward this information to our clients on a “shared cost” basis for those clients for which the information is relevant. We provide these legislative updates and significant case law developments as they become 654
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15 applicable. Generally, the City would receive legislative updates by or before the first quarter of the year when most new legislation is applicable.
Additionally, the Firm publishes a quarterly newsletter regarding developments in the law of concern to public entities (including land use, CEQA developments, labor and employment, and public financing, to name a few topics) which is provided at no cost. An example of a recent Firm newsletter is attached as Attachment A – Firm Newsletter.
We work to expect when the City Council may need to act on a matter and advise on the relevant options as early as possible.
e. Specify intended office location and accessibility to the City’s needs, including proposal for hours and day(s) of week for regular established office hours at City Hall.
The Firm’s headquarters are in Grass Valley, California. Services will primarily be performed from the Firm’s Northen California presence, with support from our other offices. Both Ms. Highsmith and Mr. Summers operate out of their private offices in Contra Costa County less than 35 miles from American Canyon City Hall. All of our offices are connected by our integrated cloud-based technology platform, letting each attorney work in an office or remotely at a client as if in their own office, with full access to the Firm’s document management system and its library of templates and tools to allow efficient, cost-effective responses to client needs.
While all of the Firm’s attorneys are available to assist when a particular matter arises, the attorneys identified here will be the core team servicing American Canyon f. Describe systems/mechanisms that would be established to ensure timely responses to City Council and City staff. What would be the response time we can expect from the City Attorney to inquiries made by the City Council or City Manager.
Accessibility and Response Time
Accessibility is vital in the relationship between the City Council, the City Manager, and our team. We are easily accessible via smartphone for telephone calls and emails & regularly share info among the team to ensure seamless service. Ms. Highsmith always has her smartphone on hand and responds within one hour or less to texts, and within 24 hours to emails. We seamlessly work with our clients remotely, using email, ShareFile, and other online systems to help with preparation and review of agenda items and staff reports, warrants, contracts, and other legal documents. 655
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16 As most issues are transmitted through email or phone call, initial responses are typically same day/next day, with follow-up provided according to client-set deadlines.
We find that emailing assignments to the City Attorney and their support staff allows for the work to be completed in the most expedient manner. As our relationship becomes established, additional methods of transmission can be created.
It is recommended that the city attorney and the city manager have weekly meetings to set priorities, anticipate needs, and check-in on the status of assignments and follow-up by staff.
g. Describe systems/mechanisms that would be established for monthly reporting of status of projects, requests, and litigation.
We provide regular status reports including immediate updates on any significant legal developments, and quarterly or monthly reports on pending matters such as major projects or litigation. We strive to have regular personal contact with Council Members and staff so the written information our clients receive never comes as a surprise.
We also regularly communicate in writing with our clients by text, email and memoranda as projects progress, legislation develops, and new cases come down. When significant new cases are issued, we give updates to the City Council and City Manager describing the case, its impact, and required or recommended changes in the City’s practice.
h. Identify the types of reports your firm will provide to the City Council and City Manager.
The most comprehensive report requested by some clients is a semi-annual litigation report for all cases being handled by our Firm or being overseen by our Firm and handled by outside counsel, including through your risk pool. This report presents in narrative and table format the details, activities, and costs of the case. This is typically discussed in a closed session matter at least twice a year to provide an update on all cases.
Due to attorney client confidentiality, we are unable to provide a copy of the semi-annual litigation report that we compile for clients; given the nature of the report, all pages would be redacted. At the interview, we can bring copy to show the scope and depth of presentation.
Other more typical reports prepared are staff reports prepared for a specific topic, such as that prepared for an ordinance or resolution.
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17 i. Describe your firm’s suggested process for transmitting requests and other material to the City Attorney. Describe how you propose assignments be assigned to the City Attorney, how will you assemble annual goals and objectives, and how do you propose those goals/objectives be evaluated.
We find that emailing assignments to the City Attorney and their support staff allows for the work to be completed in the most expedient manner. It is appreciated that items requiring immediate action be presented with a phone call to the City Attorney to ensure that the matter gets immediate attention and that any questions can be immediately handled. This access directly to the City Attorney is encouraged not only as communication from the City Manager or a select group of directors, but from any member of your team to ensure that we have immediate responsiveness to your team.
As our relationship becomes established, additional methods of transmission can be created.
We are adept at working together with our clients remotely, using email, ShareFile, and other online systems, such as Granicus or Minutetrac, to assist with preparation and review of agenda items and staff reports, warrants, contracts, and other legal documents.
j. The City of American Canyon is a growing city with many active development sites. Describe your approach to using development agreements to implement specific plans. What key considerations should the city keep in mind when negotiating a development agreement in this context?
Our Firm has drafted many exclusive negotiating agreements, development agreements, and disposition and development agreements with private developers to facilitate and cooperatively shape a public-private partnership arrangement (for property that is owned by the City) or a privately owned development, in a way that supports the City’s land use goals and desired community amenities. A development agreement is a good tool to specify the developer’s contractual obligation to adhere to specific land uses and desired community amenities on a contractually agreed to construction and implementation schedule. In return, the City can agree to a long-term, comprehensive development plan, expedite entitlement processing, and waive or defer development fees. A robust remedy and enforcement section of the development agreement is important in the event of default (including the right of reverter to the City if the property proposed for development was being transferred by the City). The City should request to see the developer’s financial proforma (for a reality check on whether the development proposal is really feasible) and also understand the rate of return expected. 657
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18 We also recommend provisions requiring City consent to any transfer of the land from the developer to merchant builders, so the City can ensure buyers have the resources and expertise to actually deliver on the development and its promised infrastructure. Cities need to also ensure that each development agreement’s public infrastructure requirements are clear, with strong triggers for needed improvements, and have a viable financing plan. We are adept at advising cities to ensure these elements are included in development agreements. And recognizing that a developer may overpromise an agency in order to “seal the deal,” it is very important to avoid agreeing to or demanding unrealistic development components or amenities. Otherwise, when the developer requests a later modification of the agreement to lessen their obligations, the community is disappointed and the legislative body ends up getting the blame. k. Describe the staffing of your office, including all permanent and temporary employees and their general duties and work schedules.
Include any changes you would propose, now or in the future, should you be awarded a contract to provide legal services to the City All attorneys and paralegals at CHW are at the disposal of all of our clients. We currently employ 35 attorneys, 3 paralegals, and 1 law clerk.
From time-to-time we hire promising legal talent awaiting bar results and secondand third-year law students as interns and law clerks. Interns are primarily used for legal research on complex legal projects.
The Firm also employs paralegals and legal secretaries specializing in litigation and transactional matters. Our paralegals provide support by preparing documents for discovery responses, reviewing documents that provided by opposing parties, managing, and preparing exhibits for hearings and trials, and supporting depositions and trials. Our transactional paralegals support attorneys working by formatting and compiling routine assignments such as contracts, resolutions, and ordinances.
Our legal secretaries are trained to provide word processing and other support, including use of our sophisticated macro packages to simplify document development. l. It is anticipated that the City will contractually require monthlyitemized statements for all services and will subject these statements to audit at least annually. Describe how you would provide for this reporting.
The Firm has a fully integrated timekeeping, billing and accounting system. Our system allows us to tailor the monthly bills for the City in the manner that is most useful for its needs, including cost recovery by Department and/or project. We strive to make 658
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19 our bills more than a means to be paid, but also a management tool to allow your City Council, City Manager, and other City staff to work with us to manage our services for maximum benefit to the City’s programs and at efficient cost. The format of our invoices includes detailed descriptions of the legal service provided, the date, the attorney providing the service and the time spent, broken down in 6 minutes increments. This detailed format is our standard as it 1) maintains attorney-client privilege by detailing the legal advice sought and provided and 2) makes it easy for the client to track and remember the matter should there ever be questions about any specific billing entry. We are also sensitive to protecting confidentiality and generally avoid listing names of personnel in any labor/employment advice provided.
We will provide timely documentation requested by the City or its auditors for any audits of our legal bills. We participate in annual audit reporting requested for all public agency clients.
m. Please submit an example of a typical invoice your firm provides to a public agency. Please redact any references to specific costs or sensitive information. We are interested in the format, type of information included, and readability.
Please see attachment for an example of an invoice, which has been redacted, for confidentiality and attorney-client privilege.
n. Identify the types of in-service training your firm can provide, such as ethics and AB 1234, commission roles and responsibilities, how to conduct performance evaluations, harassment, etc.
We provide in-service trainings for staff, commissions, and councils on a regular basis. Trainings concerning meeting decorum, conflicts of interest, the Brown Act, Political Reform Act issues (including AB 1234 training), Government Code section 1090 issues, the Public Records Act, and common law conflicts concerns are often provided to clients. These are typically offered to clients on an annual basis as new personnel joins the city. More specialized training is available on issues such as SB 35, the Housing Accountability Act, employment issues, and other topics.
The Firm is qualified to and routinely provides training on FPPC/ethics laws, the Brown Act, and AB 1234; commissioner and council member orientation and best management training; election and campaign orientations for candidates and poll workers; employment-related training, including topics such as sexual harassment and discrimination prevention and employee evaluation, retention, and discipline best practices; and the basics of land use and due process. We provide one two-hour AB 1234 training session each calendar year and up to 20 hours of live training and preparation 659
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20 on other topics (e.g., Public Records handling, employment issues, the Brown Act) each fiscal year as retainer work, or at the standard hourly rate (e.g., not special services rate).
Additional training and preparation for training sessions will be provided as non-retainer services. We would work with the City Manager to schedule trainings so as to not displace other necessary services.
o. Disclose any litigation with any local government clients of the proposed City Attorney or firm within the last ten years and provide a description.
The vast majority of clients we represent are public agencies. From time to time we represent public agencies against other public agencies, or private clients against public agencies. These are an extremely small part of our practice. The following list is of active cases where we represent a public agency or public client against a public agency (CHW client indicated in bold). We can provide details of each case upon request, subject to maintaining client confidentiality.
· City of Montclair v. Monte Vista Water District
· Town of Los Gatos v. County of Santa Clara
· City of South Pasadena v. CalTrans
We have provided special counsel services to the City of Vallejo on matters of water rates (but not water rights). We acknowledge the existing litigation between American Canyon and the City of Vallejo; our Firm has not been involved in any of this litigation or the underlying issues regarding this litigation. Accordingly, we do not see this as an existing conflict, and if necessary, we would seek a waiver from the City of Vallejo; we believe they will consent. We also serve as General Counsel to the Napa County Local Agency Formation Commission. We have previously advised the City of American Canyon on LAFCO-related issues (not litigation), and we are not aware of any current conflicts between the agencies. If future matters arise with adversity between the City and Napa LAFCO we would expect to advise only one of the two entities, with informed written consent. There are no other foreseeable conflicts of interest that would impede our representation of the City of American Canyon with any existing or former client. If a conflict arises, we work within the rules of professional responsibility to advise our client and work towards ethically resolving the issue. 660
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21 p. Provide three references of clients within the last five years including contact information and brief description of services.
Although our Firm is well known in local government circles throughout California, these contacts are especially familiar with our recent work:
For Ms. Highsmith as City Attorney
Michael Chandler, City Manager
City of Martinez
525 Henrietta Street
Martinez, CA 94553
(925) 372-3500
[email protected]
Brianne Zorn, Mayor
City of Martinez
525 Henrietta Street
Martinez, CA 94553
(206) 465-5055 (mobile)
[email protected]
For Ms. Highsmith as Special Counsel
Hilary Straus, General Manager
Citrus Heights Water District
P.O. Box 286
Citrus Heights, CA 95611
(916) 872-7353 (mobile)
[email protected]
For Mr. Summers as City Attorney
Ben Harvey, City Manager
City of Ojai
401 S. Ventura Street
Ojai, CA 93023
(805) 646-5581
[email protected]
We would be happy to provide additional references upon request. If you would like to speak to City Council members or other elected officials with whom we have worked, let us know and we can provide more names and contact information for that purpose.
661
QUALIFICATIONS
22 q. Any additional information that you believe should be given consideration.
We aim to tailor our services to fit the need. For example, we can explain a complex legal issue in lay person’s terms at a public meeting so your constituents can understand.
Or, when speaking with opposing counsel in a contested hearing we can adapt our tone and language to match. In City Council and similar legislative body meetings, Ms.
Highsmith generally speaks only as needed, respecting the advisory and not-policymaking role of the attorney. However, she also takes cues from the Mayor or Chair, adjusting to the unique needs of each body and each item.
An effective meeting begins well before the agenda is published, and Ms.
Highsmith, and the other City Attorneys who attend public legislative body meetings, work to ensure the Mayor/Chair, staff, and the attorney(s) are on the same page regarding the attorney style needed for each meeting — recognizing that some meetings require the attorney to be an active parliamentarian while others need only a legal question or two answered.
Litigation or Settlement Assessment
Deciding whether to settle a lawsuit advantageously or fight vigorously through the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court depends on the City’s goals. We advise clients on the likelihood of success, the options and risks of various strategies, and the larger implications for cases and possible settlements. Each case is different, of course, but some cases call out for quick settlement (e.g., an employee separation or termination), while others are worthy of fighting, (e.g., an ideological challenge to a City’s utility rates central to its ability to serve its community.)
We often recommend settlement when litigating a case to a conclusion is unlikely to help the City at a sufficient level to justify the costs or risks of litigation. Further, we recommend that the City authorize us to provide a detailed report twice a year on all outstanding litigation matters which shows legal costs to date, trends in types of litigation the City is defending, the status of settlement discussions, and the status of the actual litigation. This is a powerful tool to make sure that litigation files do not “sleep” or drag on well past the point when the City’s budget and goals would be better served to settle.
Working almost exclusively with public agencies and drawing on our deep well of public law experience, we handle the full range of legal issues confronting California’s cities, counties, and other public agencies. A list of current and former public agency clients are enclosed in sub-section b. on Conflicts of Interest. 662
SAMPLE INVOICE
23 SAMPLE INVOICE
663
Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC
420 Sierra College Drive, Suite 140
Grass Valley, CA 95945-5091
City of Mart inez
525 Henriet ta Street
Martinez, CA 94553
(530) 432-7357
City of Martinez
BILL SUMMARY for serv ices t hrough
March 31, 2025
Account Title
2500.01
2500.02
2500.05
2500.12
2511.01
2571.01
2575.01
2576.01
5000
GENERAL NON-LITIGATION
NON-LITIGATION
MARIJUANA
SANITARY DISTRICT NO.6
CPRA REQUESTS
Disbursements
PLANNING
GENERAL
MARINA
GENERAL
PERSONNEL
GENERAL
POLICE
GENERAL
LITIGATION
ADM INISTRATION
PLANNING
5025 adv. ALHAMBRA INN
5026 adv. CLIFF SCHOFIELD
Sub-Total
$
-
-
-
-
-
April 4, 2025
Total
$ -
-
-
-
-
_T_O_TA_L_c_u_rr_e_n_t c_h_a_rg_e_s _________________ $___,--
PAST DUE AMOUNT -
_T_o_TA_L_N_o_w_D_u_E ___________________ $___,--
664
Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC
420 Sierra College Drive, Suite 140
Grass Valley, CA 95945-5091
(530) 432
Invoice submitted to:
1 o a inez
525 Henrietta Street
Martinez, CA 94553
Invoice Number:
Invoice Date:
In reference to: GENERAL NON-LITIGATION
Professional Services through 03/31/2025
2500.01 NON-LITIGATION
03/03/2025 JRD RESEARCH NEW LEGISLATION REGARDING
INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY DISTRICTS (SHARED COST)
03/03/2025 JRD RESEARCH NEW LEGISLATION REGARDING CANNABIS
BUSINESS TAXES (SHARED COST)
03/03/2025 TLH REVIEW WEEKEND UPDATE EMAILED BY
03/04/2025 MAK DRAFT LEGISLATIVE MEMORANDUM DISCUSSING PUBLIC
OFFICIALS CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN CONTRACTS AND
"REMOTE FINANCIAL INTERESTS" (SB 1111) (SHARED COST)
03/04/2025 TLH REVIEW AND COMMENT ON PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE EMAILED BY--REGARDING 3/17/25 CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA ITEie;---
03/04/2025 TLH PREPARE BROWN ACT TRAINING CERTIFICATE AND EMAIL
SAME TO--PROVIDE BROWN ACT TRAINING VIA
ZOOM FO~K'S OFFICE
03/04/2025 TLH REVIEW EMAIL FORWARDED BY--REGARDING
DISPUTE BETWEEN PROPERTY ~980 FERRY
STREET/901 ESTUDILLO PERMIT WORK
03/04/2025 TLH REVIEW EMAIL FROM ■--- REGARDING HISTORY OF WATER SERVICE FOR"r'~ON CORNER OF GREEN
STREET AND ESTUDILLO STREET AND COSTS OF CURRENT
WATER SERVICE CONNECTION FEES FOR PROPOSED 45-
PLEX -
03/05/2025 JAA REVIEW EMAIL FROM C.--REGARDING WATER
CONN-ECTION FEES· EX~AIL CORRESPONDENCE
WITH
REGA AND■-
64712
April 3, 2025
Hours
0.20 0.20
0.10 0.20
0.10 1.10
0.10 0.10
1.40 -
-
Amount
1111
1111
1111
1111
1111
-
1111
1111
-
Privileged and Confidential - Do not store with publicly accessible documents 665
MARTINEZ, City of
GENERAL NON-LITIGATION
Professional Services through 03/31/2025
2500.01 NON-LITIGATION • continued
03/05/2025 JAW CONFERENCE WITH ■
USE AND TRANSFER-rl
FROM OPPOSING COUN
STREET BRIDGE
REGARDING MAD SITE'S
REVIEW EMAIL
ARDING "J"
03/05/2025 MAK DRAFT LEGISLATIVE MEMORANDUM DISCUSSING PUBLIC
OFFICIALS CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN CONTRACTS AND
"REMOTE FINANCIA~ B 1111 ); EXCHANGE
MEMORANDA WITH----REGARDING SAME
(SHARED COST)
03/05/2025 MGC REVIEW AND REVISE DRAFT MEMORANDUM REGARDING NEW 1090 EXCEPTION (SHARED COST)
03/05/2025 TLH REVIEW AGENDA PACKET FOR 3/5/25 CITY COUNCIL MEETING AND STUDY SESSION; ATTEND STUDY SESSION AND
REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
03/05/2025 TLH REVIEW /D AGREEMENT WITH FUN4ALL AND AD ISE ■ --REGARDING FORM OF AGREEMENT ANl'.r ~ RUSE OF STANDARD CONSUL TANT CONTRACT;
QUICK RESEARCH ON OBLIGATION TO PERFORM
BACKGROUND SEARCH ON PERSONS WORKING WITH
MINORS (AB 506)
03/05/2025 TLH REVIEW AND RESPOND TO EMAIL FROM ■-
REGARDING MURAL RESPONSIBILITIES ~~
BUILDING OCCUPIED BY UNIVERSAL SPORTS ACADEMY
03/05/2025 TLH REVIEW AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF IN SANDHU V PER (RGS, REAL
PARTY IN INTEREST) REGARDING CAL CITIES POSITION TO
DETERMINE POTENTIAL FOR LEGISLATIVE FIX
03/05/2025 TLH
03/06/2025 JAA
REVIEW EMAIL AND ATTACHED WAIVER/ASSUMPTION OF RISK
FORM FROM ■-FOR USE IN VOLUNTEER SHEET
MULCHING P~ D COMMENT ON SAME
TELEPHONE CALL FROM -- I REGARDING■
~
■■■11 WATER CON~ SETTLEMEt-l'r
EXCHANGE EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE WITH ■
- REGARDING SAME
03/06/2025 JAA DRAFT LETTER TO--REGARDING WATER
CONNECTION FEE~ D PREPARE MEMORANDUM
WITH SAME TO ■-
03/06/2025 JAW REVIEW EMAIL REGARDING MAD SITE; REVIEW STAFF REPORT; REVIEW BACKGROUND MATERIAL REGARDING
SAME
03/06/2025 TLH EMAIL EXCHANGES WITH' RIVERS REGARDING FORM OF
WAIVER/ASSUMPTION OF ISK FOR MARTINEZ USE IN SHEET
MULCH VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
April 3, 2025
Hours Amount
0.50 0.10
0.10 5.40
0.30 0.10
0.20 0.10
0.40 3.30
0.30 0.10
-
1111
1111
-
1111
1111
1111
1111
1111
-
1111
1111
Privileged and Confidential - Do not store with publicly accessible documents 666
MARTINEZ, City of
GENERAL NON-LITIGATION
Professional Services through 03/31/2025
2500.01 NON-LITIGATION • continued
03/07/2025 JRD RESEARCH NEW LEGISLATION REGARDING
INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY DISTRICTS (SHARED COST)
03/07/2025 TLH TELEPHONE CONFERENCE WITH--REGARDING
PICKLEBALL COURT ISSUES AND~ GE IN TIME USE
03/07/2025 TLH
03/10/2025 JAA
OF COURTS; REVIEW FOLLOW UP EMAIL TO
WITH ATTACHMENT REGARDING SAME
REVIEW LETTER DRAFTED BY--FOR--
REGARDING GREEN STREET ~ ONN~ SUE
1111
REVIEW ADDITIONAL EMAIL FROM
ATENING LEGAL ACTION, FORWARDED BY
; REVIEW SUGGESTED EDITS FRO ■
REVISED DRAFT OF LETTER TOI
, VICE REGULATIONS FROM ■
COMMENTS ON LETTER· REVIEW FINAL
OF LETTER FROM
03/10/2025 JRD RESEARCH NEW LEGISLATION REGARDING
INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY DISTRICTS (SHARED COST)
03/10/2025 TLH ATTEND DEVELOPMENT TEAM MEETING FOR AGENDA
PREPARATION
03/10/2025 TLH REVIEW AND RESPOND TO EMAIL FROM--
REGARDING IN PERSON BROWN ACT TR~
COMMISSIONS ON 8/5/25
03/10/2025 TLH REVIEW GENERAL LIABILITY POLICY ENDORSEMENT
LANGUAGE FOR CHESS CAMP AND ADVISE
REGARDING SAME
03/10/2025 TLH REVIEW WEEKEND UPDATE FROM
COUNCIL VIA EMAIL
TO CITY
03/10/2025 TLH REVIEW--EMAIL REGARDINGCOMME~ COMMENT REGARD~ AME; REVIEW
DEFENSE ATTORNEY- CONFIRMATION OF SAME
03/11/2025 JAA
03/11/2025 TLH
April 3, 2025
Hours Amount
0.30 0.30
0.30 0.60
0.30 0.70
0.10 0.10
0.10 0.20
0.20 0.40
1111
1111
1111
-
1111
-
1111
1111
1111
1111
1111
1111
Privileged and Confidential - Do not store with publicly accessible documents 667
RESUMES
28 RESUMES
668
TERESA L. HIGHSMITH
29 Terri is a Shareholder with the Firm of
Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley and has specialized
in municipal law since 1991. She has a broad range of
experience in areas of concern to local governments,
including zoning and land use regulation, drafting of legislation, public water supply distribution and other water and utility issues, labor and employment issues, postredevelopment, contracts, housing authority law(state and federal requirements) and affordable housing, Joint Powers Authority formation and agreements, personnel and labor matters, public works and public bidding requirements, open meetings law, Public Records Act requests, and conflicts of interest.
As a member of the municipal advisory team in Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley’s Pasadena office, Terri is an experienced City Attorney, serving as City Attorney to the City of Martinez (2022 to present), Cities of Barstow (2011 to 2021), Sierra Madre (2012 to 2020) and South Pasadena (2014-2021), including each City’s role as Successor Agency to its former Redevelopment Agency. During post-redevelopment, Terri also served as General Counsel to the Oversight Boards for former redevelopment agencies in Huntington Park, Pomona, Rialto, San Bernardino, San Gabriel, and Temple City. Terri also serves as General Counsel to the South East Los Angeles County Work Force Investment Board and the SELACO WIB’s Policy Board (a 5-city JPA which appoints member of the WIB), and from 2012- to 2021, as General Counsel to the Orangeline Development Authority — a JPA comprising 15 cities formed to pursue development of a high speed, grade separated, environmentally friendly and energy efficient transit system in Southern California.
As the leader in our firms’ multi-member labor team, Terri’s personnel and labor practice includes management and harassment training for cities, assisting in bargaining and drafting MOU’s and other employment agreements, preparing personnel rules and providing ongoing legal assistance in labor and employment disputes, grievances and discipline matters, and other employment issues applicable to both safety and non-safety public employees. In addition to providing labor and employment advice to our firm’s various clients throughout California, Terri is labor advisor to the Citrus Heights Water District.
TERESA L. HIGHSMITH
Shareholder
(213) 542-5703
[email protected]
669
TERESA L. HIGHSMITH
30 Prior to joining the Firm, Terri served the City of Alameda as its in-house City Attorney (2006 – 2011) and Assistant City Attorney (1997– 2006) and was General Counsel to the Alameda Housing Authority, the Alameda Power & Telecom (public electric company), and the Alameda Reuse and Redevelopment Authority, a joint powers authority created to acquire and redevelop the former Naval Air Station, Alameda. Prior to her 14 years with the City of Alameda, Terri represented the cities of Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, and Pittsburg as contract Assistant and Deputy City Attorney, and provided special counsel and litigation services to the cities of Fremont, Livermore and Livingston on a contract basis.
EDUCATION
Terri graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1977. Several years and three children later, she attended law school at John F. Kennedy University, graduating with honors in 1991 and joined the California Bar that same year. While she was at law school, she was an editor of the Law Review and taught contracts and legal research and writing to first-year students while juggling the duties of a “soccer mom.”
PRACTICE AREAS
· Public Law
· Labor & Employment Law
· Land Use
· Redevelopment & Affordable Housing
· Contracts & Agreements
· Public Works Contracting
· Joint Powers Authority Formation & Representation
· Public Utilities
RECOGNITIONS & COMMITTEES:
Member, League of California Cities Legal Advocacy Committee (LAC) & LAC Executive Committee (2018-2020); Chair, (2019-2020)
670
MATTHEW T. SUMMERS
31 Matthew Summers is a shareholder in
Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley’s Pasadena office
who has specialized in representing cities and other
public agencies since 2011. Named to the prestigious “Top 40 Under 40” of California lawyers by the Daily Journal Corporation, publisher of California’s leading legal trade paper in 2021, he serves as City Attorney for the Cities of Barstow, and Ojai, and Interim Assistant City Attorney for the City of Tracy.
His practice covers the full range of public law issues, including land use, elections, public safety, conflicts of interest, open meetings and public records, public works and public contracting, labor and employment, post-redevelopment advice and litigation, cannabis regulation and enforcement, telecommunications, public agency litigation, and the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”). Matt also advises the Cities of Culver City, El Monte, Irvine, and Paso Robles as special counsel, and served as General Counsel for Eco-Rapid Transit, a 15-city joint powers agency, as well as our other general and special counsel clients.
Matt’s recent projects include drafting and implementing ordinances regulating cannabis businesses, advising cities regarding referenda and initiatives, and negotiating and drafting complex development agreements and related land use and zoning entitlements for housing and mixed-use commercial projects. Matt has extensive land use experience with projects large and small, including three recent 1,000-unit residential subdivisions; complex, large, and contentious single-family-home proposals with extensive environmental issues; a City Hall renovation; affordable housing projects, and several large mixed-use hotel, commercial, and residential projects.
Matt has a robust elections law practice, including advising Calabasas, Barstow, and Ojai, and special counsel cities on candidate qualification and nomination issues, advising Calabasas on recent tax and development project initiatives and referenda, advising Ojai on two successful City-sponsored tax measures, and several contesting, including via litigation, initiatives and referenda, and advising on several recalls. Matt also won, on demurrer, a challenge to a ballot statement and question for a proposed City transactions and use (sales) tax.
MATTHEW T. SUMMERS
Shareholder
(213) 542-5719
[email protected]
671
MATTHEW T. SUMMERS
32 Matt is one of our Firm’s lead attorneys on telecommunications law and has advised Calabasas, Ojai, Sierra Madre, and Lakeport in a number of vigorous disputes regarding cell tower siting. He drafted Calabasas, Ojai, and Sierra Madre’s amendments to their wireless ordinances in response to the Federal Communications Commission’s adoption of new regulations protecting “small” wireless facilities and implementing the “Section 6409” federal exemption from local zoning for modifications to existing wireless facilities.
He has successfully litigated a variety of land use, elections, post-redevelopment, and general public law matters. Notably, Mr. Summers, together with Holly O. Whatley, successfully defended the majority of Calabasas’ wireless telecommunications facilities siting ordinance against a facial challenge raising novel issues of federal and state law.
Other cases include a published appellate victory in a successful constitutional challenge to the State’s self-help provisions of A.B. 1484, the post-redevelopment legislation on behalf of 4 cities and their successor agencies, City of Bellflower v. Cohen, (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 438.
EDUCATION
Matt received his J.D. cum laude from the University of California, Hastings School of Law in 2011 where he was an Articles Editor of the Hastings West-Northwest Journal of Environmental Law & Policy. He graduated from Reed College with a B.A. in Economics in 2008 and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
PRACTICE AREAS
· Public Law
· Elections Law
· Land Use & Housing
· Telecommunications Law
· Conflicts of Interest and Ethics Compliance
· Brown Act and other Open Meetings and Transparency Laws · Public Records Act
· Public Contracting Law
· Post-Redevelopment
· Cannabis Regulation and Permitting
· Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance
· Public Safety
672
MACKENZIE D. ANDERSON
33 Mackenzie is an Associate in Colantuono,
Highsmith & Whatley’s municipal advisory practice
group and resident in our Sacramento office. She
provides a wide range of support for our municipal
clients in such topics as public records, conflicts of interest, and land use. She is Assistant City Attorney for the City of Grass Valley, City of Novato, and City of Lakeport, Assistant Town Attorney for the Town of Yountville, and Deputy City Attorney for the City of Etna. She is also Assistant General Counsel for the Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCOs) of Napa County and Yuba County. She supports our general and special counsel clients in public law matters including open meetings, public records, conflicts of interest, land use and CEQA, public works construction, taxation, marijuana regulation, LAFCO issues and other topics.
EDUCATION
While in law school, Mackenzie worked for federal and local agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley Law with Pro Bono Honors. Before law school, she graduated from Philadelphia’s Temple University summa cum laude with a BA in English and a minor in Political Science. During that time, she interned with the Stanislaus Family Justice Center, Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, and Philadelphia Mayor’s Office, gaining exposure to a variety of local government and public service issues.
PRACTICE AREAS
· Municipal Advisory
· California Public Records Act
· Conflict of Interest Laws
· California Environmental Quality Act
· Land Use
· Code Enforcement
· LAFCO Law
MACKENZIE D. ANDERSON
Associate
(916) 989-0042
[email protected]
673
JOHN A. ABACI
34 John A. Abaci is senior counsel in the firm’s
advisory and litigation practice groups, in Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley’s Sonoma office. Before joining
CHW, John was with Walter & Pistole providing advice
and litigation services on behalf of municipal clients around the Bay Area. John has been a litigator since 1994, initially as a Deputy District Attorney handling criminal prosecutions, consumer protection and insurance fraud cases and, since 1998, for municipal clients. He has litigated a variety of cases, including personal injury, inverse condemnation, nuisance abatement, disability, and civil rights. He is a panelist defense counsel for Bay Area risk pool providing pooled self-insurance to local agencies. He also advises public agencies on a wide range of matters including government claims, law enforcement, personnel, public records, and public works. John has achieved successful results for public agencies through various methods drawing upon his breadth and depth of experience over 23 years of work, achieving outcomes such as recovering over $100,000 in a city’s costs to abate a public nuisance. He has frequently represented police agencies in defense of motions seeking police personnel records, subpoenas, and various other types of proceedings. He has also obtained workplace violence restraining orders for employees, including orders restricting access to city property and public meetings. John has also negotiated and drafted franchise and joint powers agreements. He has served on committees for the City Attorneys Department of the League of California Cities, including moderating a panel in 2021 on the implications of social unrest for cities.
EDUCATION
John graduated from U.C. Berkeley with Honors in 1990 and Hasting College of the Law in 1993.
PRACTICE AREAS
Civil rights Litigation Writ Proceedings
Police Liability and Law Enforcement Public Finance
Code Enforcement Municipal and Public Agency Litigation Health & Safety Code Receivership Litigation
JOHN A. ABACI
Senior Counsel
(707) 986-8069
[email protected]
674
MEGHAN A. WHARTON
35 Meghan is Senior Counsel in Colantuono,
Highsmith & Whatley’s litigation practice group, in the Grass Valley office. Meghan has been a litigator since
2001 and has focused on public law since 2013.
Meghan has broad public entity litigation experience. While in-house with the San Diego City Attorney’s Office, Meghan litigated cases involving Proposition 218 and 26, election law, municipal finance, contract disputes, the Brown Act, insurance coverage, conflicts of interest, COVID-19 vaccination disputes, and employment disputes. Meghan was primary counsel to the Public Utilities Department and Mayor’s Office regarding Proposition 218 and Proposition 26 issues.
Meghan has argued before the California Supreme Court, California Court of Appeal, and the 9th Circuit. She is admitted to practice before the 9th Circuit, the District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California and the District of Arizona.
Meghan successfully defended San Diego in the California Supreme Court in San Diegans for Open Gov’t v. Pub. Facilities Financing Auth. of the City of San Diego (2019) 8 Cal.5th 733 (limiting standing to bring a conflict of interest claim under Gov. Code § 1092). Her published California Court of Appeal decisions include Mahon v. City of San Diego (2020) 57 Cal.App.5th 681 (franchise fee not an illegal tax if there is evidence of good faith negotiations resulting in a fee that is reasonably related to the value of the franchise); Sviridov v. City of San Diego (2017) 14 Cal.App.5th 514 (affirming cost award after plaintiff’s failure to do better than § 998 offer); and San Diegans for Open Gov’t v.
City of San Diego (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 416 (upholding revenue financing lease to fund infrastructure). Before the 9th Circuit, Meghan successfully defended the City’s practice of chalking tires to enforce parking limits. Verdun v. City of San Diego, 51 F.4th 1033 (9th Cir. 2022). Meghan also represented the League of California Cities as amicus in Jacks v.
Santa Barbara.
MEGHAN A. WHARTON
Senior Counsel
(530) 500-2030
[email protected]
675
MEGHAN A. WHARTON
36 Meghan served as the San Diego’s Chief Deputy City Attorney for the Special Litigation Division. Additionally, she co-chaired the office’s writing committee and frequently conducted trainings on legal writing topics.
Meghan previously served on the San Diego County Bar Association’s Legislative Committee (2020-2022). In 2023, Meghan was appointed to the League of California Cities’ City Attorneys Department Municipal Finance Committee.
Meghan was admitted to the Arizona Bar (now inactive) in 2001 and the California Bar in 2007. Meghan graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center.
Meghan holds a B.A. in History from the University of Texas, Austin.
Meghan and her wife relocated to Nevada City, CA in 2023 and joined our Grass Valley office. In her free time, Meghan enjoys painting and hiking.
EDUCATION
Meghan graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center. Meghan holds a B.A. in History from the University of Texas, Austin.
PRACTICE AREAS
· Appellate Representation
· Administrative and Traditional Writs
· Constitutional Issues
· Complex Litigation
· Contract Disputes
· Public Finance Law
· Conflicts of Interest Law
· Post-Redevelopment
· Election Law
676
THAIS P. ALVES
37 Thais is an associate with Colantuono, Highsmith
& Whatley’s municipal advisory practice group and
resident in our Pasadena office. She provides a wide
range of support for our municipal clients in such topics as employment and labor, open meetings and records, conflicts of interest, and land use.
Adept at public meeting management, she regularly attends public agency board meetings, including previously serving as Planning Commission Counsel for the Cities of Sierra Madre and Ojai and as Assistant General Counsel for Eco-Rapid Transit.
Recently, Thais has developed a specialty in representing cities in arbitrations for union grievances and handled a successful police officer termination arbitration involving a two-week trial.
Thais advises clients on a daily basis regarding contract drafting, interpretation, and amendment, the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, and conflicts of interest laws.
Thais is also part of CHW’s employment law practice and provides significant labor and employment support for her clients, including advice regarding employee discipline matters, public employee retirement systems, personnel policies drafting and interpretation, union agreements drafting and interpretation, and compliance advice regarding the myriad of federal and state employment and labor laws. Thais is experienced in the public employee disciplinary appeal process, and has successfully defended her clients’ discipline decisions in disciplinary appeal hearing and arbitrations.
She also maintains and delivers an extensive library of training presentations for public agencies, including AB 1825 sexual harassment prevention training, best practices on employee evaluations, employee leave rights and disability accommodations, civil service rules, and employee discipline. Thais’ focus is not only on helping her clients avoid legal liability, but also in creating a work environment where both management and non-supervisory staff feel supported, respected, and empowered to serve the public to the best of their ability.
THAIS P. ALVES
Associate
(626) 219-0481
[email protected]
677
THAIS P. ALVES
38 Before joining the Firm, Thais was a fellow and then a staff attorney at California Women’s Law Center. There, she engaged in impact litigation and policy advocacy on behalf of women.
EDUCATION
Thais obtained her JD from UCLA Law and graduated summa cum laude from University of California, Irvine, with a BA in History. In law school, Thais interned at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office and at the Public Law Center. She also externed at the California Office of the Attorney General and the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center at UCLA, gaining exposure to a variety of public law topics.
PRACTICE AREAS
· Municipal Advisory
· Employment Law
· Brown Act
· Public Records Act
· Land Use Regulations
· Conflicts of Interest
· Political Reform Act
· Government Code § 1090
· Common Law
· California Environmental Quality Act
678
ANDREW L. JARED
39 Andrew is Senior Counsel in CHW’s public
agency advisory group. He has dedicated his practice to representing cities and government agencies since 2006.
He presently serves as the City Attorney for the Cities of Yreka, Montague, Fort George, and Etna. He previously has served as City Attorney and Assistant City Attorney for the Cities of Chico (6 years) and South Pasadena (2 years), and Assistant City Attorney for the City of Pomona (13 years). He also serves as General Counsel to the Goleta Water District.
His general counsel practice covers the full range of public law issues, including:
land use, elections, contracts, districting, law enforcement/public safety issues, telecommunications, library law, cannabis regulation and permitting, historic preservation, conflicts of interest, open meetings and public records laws, CEQA, water law, water pollution litigation, solid waste franchises, airports, and other state and federal laws governing cities. He served as chief legal counsel to the City of Chico Airport Commission, addressing airport land use issues, including avigation easements, general plan and airport land use plan conformity, and coordination with the Butte County Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC).
He earned his Juris Doctor at Pepperdine University School of Law, and a Master of Science in Environmental Management from the University of London. He attended UCLA as an undergraduate, earning a BA in Geography.
He is serving a third term on the Municipal Law Handbook Editorial Committee, the leading treatise on California municipal law, published jointly by California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) and the League of California Cities (Cal Cities).
He has also served on the Cal Cities Public Works Policy Committee (City Attorneys Department appointee) and the City Attorney’s Department Committee on Disaster Response.
He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at California State University, Northridge as an Adjunct Professor.
He has taught courses in Planning Law, and Sustainability and Environmental Analysis.
ANDREW L. JARED
Senior Counsel
(213) 542-5739
[email protected]
679
ANDREW L. JARED
40 He has served his community for eight years as a Planning Commissioner, twice as its Chair, and served for eight years on the Trails Committee, preserving and improving hiking, biking, and equestrian opportunities for residents.
Before law school, he lived in Tokyo for over two years, teaching English to business professionals in the publishing industry and to the Japanese National Farmers Cooperative (Zennoh). He has traveled extensively throughout Asia, including trips to China, Hong Kong, Macau, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and Japan. He was born, raised, and attended public schools in Pomona, California.
PRACTICE AREAS:
· Airports and Airport Land Use Planning
· Cannabis Regulation
· Conflicts of Interest
· Contracting
· Election Law
· Historic Preservation
· Land Use, Planning and CEQA
· Library Law
· Public Law
· Public Safety Defense Litigation
· Public Utilities
· Solid Waste Franchising
· Water Rights
· Water Quality
680
INSURANCE
41 INSURANCE
The Firm currently maintains in full force and effect a professional liability insurance policy which provides coverage in an amount not less than $2,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate. Said insurance policy provides coverage for any damages or losses suffered as a result of any error or omission or neglect by the Firm which arises out of the professional services required by the representation. 681
SPECIALIZED AREAS OF LAW
42 SPECIALIZED AREAS OF LAW
a. Experience in land use development, particularly as it relates to industrial development, low-and moderate-income housing, and touristoriented retail development.
Ms. Highsmith and several of our firm’s attorneys have significant experience in advising our clients on land use development, whether the proposal is for residential use, including affordable housing, mixed use development, including commercial or industrial development. Both Ms. Highsmith and Mr. Summers have drafted many exclusive negotiating agreements, development agreements and disposition and development agreements, including uses proposing hotels and other tourist-oriented development and private-public partnerships.
Mr. Summers’ housing and land use experience includes advising cities on development agreements, financing, and infrastructure issues for three recent 1,000-plus unit residential subdivisions for the Cities of Tracy and Paso Robles; advising several cities on several large mixed-use hotel, commercial, and residential projects; and advising Ojai on several recent affordable-housing projects approved without any City subsidy and involving complex housing, environmental, and elections issues as development agreements were subjected to referendum and litigated.
b. Experience with Airport Land Use Compatibility Law
Several of our clients also include airports within their jurisdiction, but most recently Matt Summers provides legal support to the City of Tracy regarding the Tracy Municipal Airport, which is owned and operated by the City of Tracy. Mr. Summers’ advice includes helping the City navigate Federal Aviation Administration review of its Optimization Plan and resolving disputes regarding the precise scope of World War II era restrictions on the airport’s operations and interrelated City water and wastewater utility services and infrastructure.
Mr. Jared served as chief legal counsel to the City of Chico Airport Commission, addressing airport land use issues, including avigation easements, general plan and airport land use plan conformity, and coordination with the Butte County Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC).
c. Experience with Fire District Law
Currently, we serve over 16 Fire Protection Districts as General Counsel, or Special Counsel, as well as two Fire Authorities. The City of Martinez (represented by Ms.
Highsmith as City Attorney), receives its fire services from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (an independent fire district), and the City of Barstow (represented by Matthew Summers as City Attorney since 2020, and previously by Ms. Highsmith as City 682
SPECIALIZED AREAS OF LAW
43 Attorney from 2011 to 2020) is served by the Barstow Fire Protection District, which is a dependent fire district, under the City of Barstow. Our advice to Fire Districts includes helping Fire Districts identify and implement fire services funding measures, negotiating annexations and inter-agency services agreements, and advice, arbitrations, and litigation over the complex, unique labor and employment issues that arise when employees live and work in agency-owned facilities.
d. Experience with the California Water Code
Many of the cities we represent are urban water suppliers. Ms. Highsmith has represented several such cities in a City Attorney capacity, including Sierra Madre, South Pasadena and the City of Martinez, where she is the current City Attorney. Additionally, our firm represents several water districts; as such, we are familiar with and work regularly with the California Water Code regarding water rights and water conservation issues. Andrew Jared, proposed as an Assistant City Attorney, is also experienced in water law, including through his service as General Counsel for the Goleta Water District.
Andrew’s experience includes advising water suppliers on rate-making, water quality regulatory processes, and water supply and delivery issues. Additionally, Mr. Summers has advised public wastewater utilities through regulatory investigations and several rate-making processes and infrastructure financing deals. If water or wastewater rates are litigated, Michael Colantuono, who would be available to the City as our Founding Shareholder, is California’s leading expert on the law of local government revenues, briefing 18 cases on that subject in the California Supreme Court since 2004 and winning most.
e. Experience with dealing with Railroads and the California Public Utilities Commission
While City Attorney of the City of Barstow, Ms. Highsmith provided legal advice to the City regarding public works infrastructure coordination with the BNSF Railroad.
Mr. Summers, the present City Attorney of Barstow, has continued this work over the past three years, including advising as the City is considering a proposed 5,000 acre rail yard and transload warehouse center with complex CEQA and environmental review, annexation, infrastructure financing, and regulatory compliance issues. Additionally, Mr. Summers is presently providing legal support to the City of Tracy regarding several Union Pacific Railroad projects within Tracy’s jurisdiction and of sphere of influence, including a recent success resolving a several year old right-of-way easement dispute without litigation allowing a new $20 million state-grant-funded recycled water pipeline project to proceed.
683
SPECIALIZED AREAS OF LAW
44 The City of Martinez has an Amtrak station within its territorial jurisdiction—a community asset, which the City would like to see promoted with Martinez has a destination site. Amtrak has recently completed accessibility upgrades to the Martinez station.
As far as interfacing with the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), attorneys in our firm representing cities who regularly work cooperatively with railroads in those jurisdictions, are able to provide written communication as necessary with the CPUC.
Also, in our representation of community choice aggregate electric providers, we have participated in communicating written push back on the CPUC regarding investmentbacked utilities (IOU’s, such as Pacific Gas & Electric) attempts to recover various claims of stranded costs, due to loss of customers opting in to the community choice aggregate electric provider.
684
POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
45 POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
a. Please list any political contributions of money, ion-kind services, or loans made to any member of City Council within the last three years by the applicant law firm and all its attorneys, including the attorney proposed to represent the city
No member of the Firm has made any political contributions to any candidate or Council Member for the City of American Canyon. The same is true of any other member of any other legislative body that we represent. The Firm has a policy of not making political contributions to local agency candidates.
b. Please list all public agency clients for which your firm currently provides services or are under retainer.
The Firm represents public entity clients almost exclusively. The Firm’s recent and current public agency clients are listed below. The clients marked with an asterisk (*) are those for whom we provide general counsel services. All others receive specialized legal services. To protect our client’s confidences, we do not generally disclose the nature of the specialized services we provide for specific clients unless that information is public.
If there are particular clients for whom you would like to know the nature of our work, we will provide that information if public or seek their consent.
1. Allan Hancock Community
College District
2. Anaheim, City of
3. Antioch, City of
4. *Auburn Urban Development
Authority
5. *Auburn, City of
6. *Barstow Redevelopment
Agency/Successor Agency
7. *Barstow, City of
8. Basin Water Conservation District
9. Belmont, City of
10. Benicia, City of
11. Bighorn Desert View Water
Agency
12. Brentwood, City of
13. Broad Beach Geologic Hazard
Abatement District
14. Burbank, City of
81. Orange County Local Agency
Formation Commission (LAFCo)
82. *Orangeline Development
Authority (also known as EcoRapid Transit)
83. Oxnard, City of
84. Pacific Grove, City of
85. Pajaro Valley Water Management
Agency
86. Palm Springs, City of
87. Palo Alto, City of
88. Paramount, City of
89. Pasadena, City of
90. Paso Robles, City of
91. Pico Rivera, City of
92. *Pomona Oversight Board
93. Poway, City of
94. Arroyo Grande, City of
95. Redding, City of
685
POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
46 15. *Camarillo Health Care District
16. Calabasas, City of
17. Calaveras County Local Agency
Formation Commission (LAFCo)
18. Calexico, City of
19. Calleguas Municipal Water
District
20. Central Coast Water Authority
21. Cerritos, City of
22. ChangeLab Solutions (formerly
Public Health Institute)
23. Chico, City of
24. Chula Vista, City of
25. Citrus Heights Water District
26. Clean Power Alliance
27. Cupertino, City of
28. East Palo Alto, City of
29. El Cajon, City of
30. Escondido, City of
31. *Etna, City of
32. First Five Yuba
33. Fresno, City of
34. *Garden Valley Fire Protection
District
35. Glendale, City of
36. Glendora, City of
37. Gold Coast Health Plan
38. Goleta, City of
39. *Goleta Water District
40. *Goleta West Sanitary District
41. *Grass Valley, City of
42. *Higgins Fire District
43. Humboldt, City of
44. Huntington Beach, City of
45. Huntington Park Oversight Board
46. Imperial Irrigation District
47. Incorporate Olympic Valley
48. *Lakeport, City of
49. Lakewood, City of
50. Lathrop, City of
51. Livermore, City of
52. Lodi, City of
96. Redlands, City of
97. Rialto, City of
98. *Rialto Oversight Board
99. Richmond, City of
100. Riverside, City of
101. Riverside County
102. *Rough & Ready Fire District
103. San Benito, County of
104. San Bernardino Local Agency
Formation Commission (LAFCo)
105. *San Bernardino Oversight Board
106. San Diego, City of
107. *San Diego County Local Agency
Formation Commission (LAFCo)
108. San Diego County Water
Authority
109. San Diego Unified Port District
110. *San Gabriel Oversight Board
111. San Juan Capistrano, City of
112. San Jose Water Company
113. San Luis Obispo, City of
114. San Luis Obispo County Local
Agency Formation Commission
(LAFCo)
115. San Marcos, City of
116. Santa Ana, City of
117. Santa Barbara, City of
118. Santa Fe Springs, City of
119. Santa Maria, City of
120. Sausalito, City of
121. *SELACO Workforce Investment
Board, Inc.
122. Shasta County Local Agency
Formation Commission (LAFCo)
123. *Sierra Madre, City of
124. SMUD
125. Solano County Local Agency
Formation Commission (LAFCo)
126. Solvang, City of
127. *Sonoma, City of
128. South Gate, City of
129. South Pasadena, City of
686
POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
47 53. Long Beach, City of
54. Los Angeles, City of
55. Marin Municipal Water District
56. Marina, City of
57. Marin Clean Energy
58. Mariposa County
59. *Martinez, City of
60. Midpeninsula Regional Open
Space District
61. MJM Management Group
62. Modesto Irrigation District
63. *Montague, City of
64. Montecito Water District
65. Montecito Sanitary District
66. Monterey, City of
67. Monterey County Local Agency
Formation Commission (LAFCo)
68. Monterey Peninsula Water
Management District
69. Mountain View, City of
70. *Napa, City of
71. *Napa County Local Agency
Formation Commission (LAFCo)
72. Nevada County
73. Newhall County Water District
74. Newport Beach, City of
75. North San Juan Fire District
76. *Novato, City of
77. Ocean Avenue Association
78. *Ojai, City of
79. *Ophir Hill Fire Protection District
80. Orange County Mosquito and
Vector Control District
130. *Tahoe Forest Hospital District
131. *Temple City Oversight Board
132. Torrance, City of
133. Tracy, City of
134. Truckee Fire Protection District
135. Tulare, City of
136. Turlock Irrigation District
137. Ukiah Sanitation District
138. Union Sanitation District
139. Vallejo Sanitation and Flood
Control District
140. Vallejo, City of
141. Ventura County
142. Ventura, City of
143. Vernon, City of
144. Vista, City of
145. Watsonville, City of
146. *Weed, City of
147. *Yountville, Town of
148. *Yreka, City of
149. Yuba City, City of
150. *Yuba County Local Agency
Formation Commission (LAFCo)
Further, as new matters arise for our existing clients or potential new clients, we complete a comprehensive conflict check for each proposed new client or matter to identify any possible conflicts of interest, then either refuse the representation or secure client consent to the representation, as appropriate for each matter. Occasionally, where two agencies are in a dispute with each other and the firm is asked to address the position of a public agency client, the Firm has been adverse to a public agency. 687
POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
48 c. Please list all public agency clients for which your firm previously provided services over the last 5 years/
Please see previous list of clients, which includes clients we have previously provided services over the last five years. Within the past five years, after new city council members were elected and took their seats, the Cities of Calabasas, Chico and South Pasadena changed firms. Calabasas selected us as a top three firm and interviewed, but were ultimately not the prevailing firm to provide services. In South Pasadena, the firm was not selected to proceed through an RFP process by the newly constituted city council. Neither situation was a termination, dismissal, or firing for cause. In both instances the Firm continued doing work for the cities, and in Calabasas and Chico remains doing special projects work to this day.
d. For the firm and/or the proposed City Attorney, please specify current or known future professional commitments so that the City may evaluate your continuing availability for providing legal services to the City.
Ms. Highsmith serves as the City Attorney in Martinez, as Special Counsel for Citrus Heights Water District (where she occasionally attends a Board meeting in a remote capacity), and Special Counsel for various community care aggregate electric consortiums in California. Mr. Summers serves as City Attorney for the Cities of Barstow and Ojai, and as Planning Commission Counsel for the City of Tracy. The City Attorney’s Office team’s current public meeting schedule is:
City of Barstow Mr. Summers – Council Meetings on First and Third Tuesdays
City of Martinez Ms. Highsmith - Council Meetings on First and Third Wednesdays
City of Martinez Ms. Highsmith – Planning Commission
Meeting on Fourth Tuesday
City of Ojai Mr. Summers – Council Meetings on Second
and Fourth Tuesdays;
City of Tracy Mr. Summers – Planning Commission
Meetings on Second and Fourth Wednesdays
If the firm is selected as City Attorney, Ms. Highsmith would attend City Council meetings on the first and third Tuesday evenings. Mr. Summers or Ms. Anderson would attend Planning Commission meetings on fourth Thursday evenings. 688
POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
49 Disclosure
The Firm has no known past or current business or personal relationships with any current City of American Canyon elected official, appointed official, City employee, or family members of any current City of American Canyon elected official, appointed official.
No person on the proposed City Attorney team has been the subject of an enforcement action by the Fair Political Practices Commission during their legal practice.
No person on the proposed City Attorney team has been the subject of prosecution by the California State Bar at any time during legal practice. 689
COST PROPOSAL
50 COST PROPOSAL
a. Please give your definition of “general” legal services. Would all general services be included in your monthly retainer? Can “general” services be broken out between General Fund, Development Funded, and Enterprise Funded Services?
Cities vary considerably in the way they use counsel and we pride ourselves on our ability to meet our clients’ varied needs efficiently and at the lowest cost consistent with effective representation. In the end, we pledge that the financial arrangement between the City and the firm will be fair to both parties and we will never send a bill to the City without first reviewing it with that commitment in mind.
We are prepared to work with the City to structure an appropriate agreement for legal services that meets the City’s needs. If the City is interested in a fixed fee (retainer) for general legal services agreement, then, as we have done in the past with other new general counsel clients, we have found it beneficial to work at an established hourly rate (proposed $275/hr) for six months prior to determining the appropriate monthly retainer amount.
“General” legal services (described below) are those provided within the retainer or at the regular hourly rate of up to $275 (depending on the attorney or paralegal providing the service). While general legal services will most likely fall within the City’s General Fund, working with your Finance Department we can create separate billing codes within the “general” legal services categories to track whether such services are development funded (as are many planning regulatory services) or funded by a City Enterprise Fund.
General Legal Services. The general legal services to be provided by the Firm to the City shall include:
1. Provide routine legal assistance, advice and consultation to the City Council and to City staff relating to general public law issues.
2. Provide advice regarding the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, the Political Reform Act, parliamentary procedure, conflicts of interests and Government Code 1090, CEQA and NPDES, joint powers agreements, election law, prevailing wages and federal and state procurement requirements.
3. Prepare, review, approve, and prepare ordinances, resolutions, staff reports, acquisition agreements, public works contracts, general contracts 690
COST PROPOSAL
51 and professional services agreements, deeds, leases, promissory notes, legal notices, correspondence, and other related legal documents.
4. Review contracts, bid specifications, and purchasing documents for legal and policy compliance, appropriate risk transfer (i.e., indemnity and insurance), and risk analysis and avoidance as requested.
5. Attend all meetings of the City Council and Planning Commission, and such meetings of other Boards and Commissions of the City as may occasionally be specified by the City.
6. Provide training and advice regarding the Brown Act, parliamentary procedure and meeting management, the Public Records Act, AB 1234, conflicts of interest, AB 1825, AB 1661, ethics, election law, CEQA and NPDES, land use, and other routine topics for city staff, and appointed and elected officials.
We will provide a 2-hour training session in AB 1234/ethics once per year via Zoom (can be done in person if coupled with regular meeting or other meeting) on a mutually agreeable date; additional training will be billed at the General Legal Services rate.
7. Provide attorneys on-site for regular office hours on Council meeting days as requested by the City Manager or the City Council. Additional office hours will be provided as requested by the City Manager or the City Council and compensated under paragraph b. below.
8. Promptly returning phone calls, texts, emails from the City Council and City staff, and communicate with the press when authorized to do so.
9. Perform such other or additional general legal services (not identified in Special Services or other types of services listed in b. below) as may be requested by the City, acting by and through the City Council or the City Manager.
10. Regulatory planning, land use, and code enforcement advice to staff.
11. Monitor pending state and federal legislation and regulations, and new case law, as appropriate.
The general legal services specified above will be billed at the regular hourly rates of the attorneys and other professionals providing such services up to a maximum of $275 per hour, subject to an agreed-upon monthly retainer. 691
COST PROPOSAL
52 b. Please give your definition of “special” legal services? How are they differentiated from general legal services? Would any special services be included in your retainer? If so, please identify them. Identify the specific process of how any special legal services would be assigned.
The following “special” legal services (excluding those described in a. above) are not included in the retainer:
1. Advice regarding revenue measures, local taxes, fees, assessments, and other advice regarding municipal finance law, including Propositions 218 and 26.
2. Environmental Legal Services other than routine review of negative declarations, environmental impact reports and project-level environmental documentation.
3. Labor and employment matters, including employee discipline, personnel rules, MOU drafting/interpretation, employment contracts and settlement agreements, PERS issues, employee grievances.
4. Advice on and drafting of agreements for real estate and economic development services, including exclusive negotiating agreements, disposition and development agreements, development agreements, and related real estate and eminent domain services other than routine review of escrow documents, title reports and standard sale or purchase contracts.
5. Insurance Coverage Services, such as advice and representation regarding disputes with the applicable risk pool or another insurance provider other than routine advice to tender claims to insurers.
6. Water Law Services.
7. Airport Law.
8. Railroad and CPUC.
9. Cannabis regulation and enforcement.
10. Litigation.
11. Such other specialized services as may be required by the City.
The specialized legal services specified in this paragraph shall be billed at the regular hourly rates of the attorneys providing such services when those services are provided up to a maximum of $385 per hour.
692
COST PROPOSAL
53 As is typical for contract City Attorneys, bond counsel services are excluded from our representation of the City. We are experienced in drafting components of Official Statements and in interpreting bond covenants and purposes as may be needed. c. How would your firm work with the City to remain within its adopted budget for its legal services?
The Firm is very sensitive to the need to control costs, recognizing that public money and public trust are at stake. We develop cost management strategies in cooperation with our public clients to ensure the most effective and efficient use of our services.
In our periodic reports on work we handle for the City, we identify opportunities and strategies to contain costs, such as by providing, then updating as needed, templates for staff to use in completing routine contracts, rather than drafting a bespoke contract each time. These reports will help the City in determining how best to dispose of work and avoid the common situation where matters are allowed to flow along, generating bills for the City, well past the point where a considered judgment should be made regarding the settlement or disposition.
Managing the cost of legal services requires a team effort and we will make every effort to provide the City with the information you need to help us control the cost of legal services, whether we provide them or they are provided by other counsel.
The Firm also frequently shares costs among our many municipal clients throughout California. For example, we provide annual and periodic legislative updates, as well as important and relevant case law updates and direction to our public agency clients, where each agency pays a proportionate fraction of the total cost of research and preparation of the memoranda.
Further, we keep legal bills to a minimum using research and documents previously drafted, and only billing for the time spent in updating and tailoring a matter to the particular client’s needs.
We will work closely with you to identify areas which can be handled without significant use of our time — as by training staff to handle public records requests and to pursue collections in small claims court; or by providing forms for the City’s use to reduce our time reviewing routine contracts, closed session agendas, and the like. Obviously, determining how much to spend on legal services, what to have done by non-lawyers, and what to leave undone requires greater knowledge of the nature and needs of your organization than we now have and can only be determined in collaboration with the City Council’s leadership.
693
COST PROPOSAL
54 We also propose that work for which the City will seek reimbursement from third parties, such as developers or other counterparties by contract, be billed at a capped rate of $495 per hour. By billing reimbursable services at this higher rate, we can keep our other rates lower for costs borne by the City. Reimbursable projects shall be provided at a capped hourly rate of $495 per hour. These proposed rates are summarized below.
Service Description Capped Rates
Basic Services General Legal Services $275 per hour
Extraordinary
Services
Specialized Legal Services $385 per hour
Labor & Employment $385 per hour
Litigation $385 per hour
Appellate Litigation $425 per hour
Other Services
Reimbursable $495 per hour
Paralegals $200 per hour
Public Records Act
Requests
$250 per hour attorneys
$200 per hour for paralegals
Other Costs
Photocopies: $0.20/page over 25
pages
$1 facsimile transactions
Mileage: $0.65 cents/mile
Travel
½ general services rate from
Walnut Creek, Contra Costa
County/At cost all other travel
d. Describe your firm’s preference for method of payment, payment terms, and your procedure for billing of retention, hours, and expenses and any other accounting requirements. Please provide hourly rates for all types of services.
We prefer electronic payment, but also accept payment by check.
We provide monthly invoices billed in one-tenth increments with descriptions of each activity engaged in by each attorney. Invoices are issued on each account or billing category identified by the City for ease of accounting. We will work with the Finance Department to establish such billing categories as makes sense with the budget and the city’s accounting procedures.
694
COST PROPOSAL
55 e. Define the type and unit rates for reimbursement of expenses; for example, rate for mileage, reproduction of documents, or word processing charges, etc.
We will charge the City for half travel time to all regular meetings, and portal to portal for all other meetings and appearances. We charge 20 cents per page for in-house photocopies and one dollar per outgoing page for facsimile transmissions. As to other costs, we simply pass on to you, without mark-up, the costs of any expenses incurred, such as outside copying, Federal Express charges, etc. We do not charge for word processing or secretarial overtime. Moreover, the firm does not charge additional fees for basic computer-assisted research or investigation. In the event a separate fee is charged to the firm for unusual research, we would pass that expense on to the City without markup. We will also agree not to charge the City for office support services and similar operational costs.
f. Do you expect to have cost-of-living adjustment incorporated into the agreement with the city? if so, please explain how you propose it be computed and implemented.
To avoid the challenges inherent in irregular contract changes and create predictability for the City’s annual budget process, we propose an automatic inflator – adjusting the above hourly rates each July 1, starting in 2026, by the lesser of 5% or the annual increase in the CPI for the San Francisco Bay Area. 695
SAMPLE CONTRACT
56 SAMPLE CONTRACT
We are attaching a sample of a form of legal services agreement that we have recently used with other city clients. This form of agreement is specific to the specialized consultant services provided by attorneys.
696
1 AGREEMENT FOR LEGAL SERVICES
This Agreement for Legal Services (“Agreement”) is made and entered into by and between the law firm of Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC, (“Firm’’) and the City of American Canyon (“City”).
RECITALS
A. The City desires to retain the Firm to provide legal services as City Attorney.
B. The attorneys of the Firm are duly licensed under the laws of the State of California and are fully qualified to discharge the duties of the office of City Attorney and to provide the services contemplated by this Agreement.
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereto agree as follows:
1. Scope of Services.
A. The Firm shall discharge the duties of City Attorney of the City of American Canyon and shall use its best efforts to provide legal services in a competent and professional manner. The Firm shall provide all legal services to the City of the kind and nature typically provided by an in-house City Attorney’s office and as provided in the American Canyon Municipal Code unless specifically stated otherwise in this Agreement or otherwise directed in writing by the City. Except where conflict of interest rules require otherwise, the Firm shall supervise the activities of all other counsel retained by or for the City and shall review the work of such counsel on behalf of the City when requested by the City.
B. The legal services to be provided by the Firm shall consist of those set forth in Exhibit “A” attached hereto and shall be billed at the rates and for the costs set forth therein.
2. Designation of City Attorney.
Teresa L. Highsmith is designated as City Attorney for the City. The parties understand and agree that the Firm may, from time to time, utilize other attorneys within the Firm to assist Ms. Highsmith in the performance of this Agreement. Upon request by the City Manager or City Council, Ms. Highsmith will attend regularly scheduled Council meetings or other special meetings. If Ms. Highsmith is unable to attend meetings, another attorney will attend in her place. City Attorney will supervise all services rendered under this Agreement. Matthew T. Summers is designated as 697
2 primary Assistant City Attorney, Mackenzie Anderson is secondary Assistant City Attorney, and all other attorneys at the firm may be called to assist with representation of the City as additional Assistant City Attorneys. The parties will cooperate to avoid unnecessary travel to the City for meetings, especially when substantially similar service can be provided remotely via teleconference or video conference.
3. Billing Procedures and Monthly Statements.
A. The Firm shall submit to the City, within thirty (30) days after the end of each calendar month, an itemized statement of the professional services provided and the time expended to provide those services in the form customarily submitted by the Firm to clients which are billed on an hourly basis. The parties acknowledge that payment of all monthly statements is expected to be made within thirty (30) days of the billing date. The City will not be liable for interest or finance charges, though persistent late payment shall be a basis for the Firm to review its relationship with the City.
B. Time will be charged by the Firm in increments of 1/10 of an hour (i.e., sixminute units). The rate structure in general, or the rates of attorneys of particular levels of experience. The current hourly rates of the Firm’s professionals are shown in Exhibit B attached hereto. Commencing on July1 , 2026, and on July 1 of every year thereafter, the Firm may increase the rates specified in Exhibit B by the previous 12 months’ change in the Consumer Price Index, San Francisco Metropolitan Area, All Consumers (utilizing the most recent CPI data available), not to exceed 5%, round to the nearest $5.00, to reflect increases in overhead and other costs.
C. The Firm will limit the attendance of more than one attorney at any meeting, proceeding or deposition to circumstances where such attendance is necessary for the benefit of the client.
D. On occasion, Firm may receive small sums of money belonging to City, such as a credit for an overpayment by a vendor, a refund from a court, or the like. The California State Bar requires us to alert you to sums we receive on your behalf within 14 days of receipt and to forward those funds to City within 45 days of receipt unless we have your direction otherwise. Processing payments for small amounts may be burdensome to your accounting staff and to ours. Therefore, by signing this Agreement for legal services, City agrees that, should Firm receive any amount to City’s credit of $500 or less and Firm does not have other instructions from you with respect to that money, Firm may place these funds in Firm’s client trust account and apply them to future invoices to City for Firm’s services. City can alter this agreement at any time as to some or all funds we hold by letting Firm know, in writing, how Firm should handle City’s money. Firm will inform City of Firm’s receipt of funds promptly upon each 698
3 receipt and will remind City of City’s right to alter these standing instructions as to any payment.
4. Resolution of Fee Disputes.
The City is entitled to require that any fee dispute be resolved by binding arbitration in Sacramento County pursuant to the arbitration rules of the Sacramento County Bar Association for legal fee disputes. In the event that City chooses not to utilize the Sacramento County Bar Association’s arbitration procedures, City agrees that all disputes regarding the professional services rendered or fees charged by the Firm shall be submitted to binding arbitration in Sacramento County to be conducted by JAMS in accordance with its commercial arbitration rules.
5. Term of the Agreement.
This Agreement shall be effective as of ________, 2025 (“Effective Date”) and shall be and remain in full force and effect until terminated in accordance with the provisions of Section 6 hereof.
6. Termination of the Agreement.
City has the right to terminate the Firm’s representation at any time, without cause, subject to an obligation to give notice in writing to the Firm at least thirty (30) days prior to termination. Termination is effective thirty (30) days from the date of the written notice unless otherwise specified therein. The Firm has the same right, subject to the Firm’s ethical obligations to allow the City sufficient notice prior to termination so that City will be able to arrange alternative representation. In either circumstance, City agrees to secure new counsel as quickly as possible and to cooperate fully in the substitution of the new counsel as counsel of record in any action in which the Firm may represent the City. The Firm agrees to cooperate fully in any such transition, including the transfer of files. Notwithstanding the termination of the Firm’s representation, City will remain obligated to pay to the Firm all fees and costs incurred prior thereto.
7. Files and Records.
A. All legal files of the Firm pertaining to the City shall be and remain the property of City. The Firm will control the physical location of such files during the term of this Agreement. The Firm may, in its discretion, maintain all or part of the City’s client file in electronic format. The Firm may store part or all of the City’s electronic documents using secure cloud storage services. If so, the Firm will use all reasonable methods to maintain the confidentiality of City files, just as it does for the City’s non699 4 digital files. The City’s data will be password protected and encrypted using currently available technology.
B. The Firm shall maintain full and accurate records with respect to all matters covered under this Agreement for a period of three years after the expiration or termination of this Agreement. If the City asks the Firm to deliver its file to the City, delivery of an electronic version, together with any materials that cannot be saved electronically, satisfies the Firm’s obligation to release all client papers and property to the City. Three years after termination of the attorney-client relationship, and after reasonable notice, the Firm will be free to destroy the City’s client file, including all electronic records. The Firm may also discharge its obligation to maintain the City’s file prior to the expiration of three years by mailing a copy to the City. “Reasonable notice” means the Firm’s mailing of a notice of our intent to destroy your client file to the City.
C. City shall have the right to access and examine records of the Firm pertaining to the City, without charge, during normal business hours upon written request, provided, however, that Firm may protect the confidences of its other clients in providing this information to the City and otherwise comply with applicable law. City shall further have the right to audit such records, to make transcripts therefrom and to inspect all data, documents, proceedings, and activities upon written request, provided, however, that Firm may protect the confidences of its other clients in providing this information to the City and otherwise comply with applicable law. The Firm does not permit direct access to its files by clients, but will provide the City access to the Firm’s records pertaining to the City as provided herein and upon written request. This same procedure will apply to information stored in the cloud.
8. Modifications to the Agreement.
This Agreement may be amended from time to time by agreement of the parties.
Unless otherwise provided in this Agreement, modifications relating to the nature, extent, or duration of the Firm’s professional services to be rendered hereunder shall require the prior written approval of the City Council. Any such written approval shall be deemed to be a supplement to this Agreement and shall specify any changes in the Scope of Services and the agreed-upon billing rates to be charged by the Firm and paid by the City.
9. Independent Contractor.
No employment relationship is created by this Agreement. The Firm and its members shall, for all purposes, be an independent contractor to the City. Neither the City, nor any of its employees, shall have any control over the manner, mode or means 700
5 by which Firm, its agents or employees, render the legal services required under this Agreement. The city shall have no voice in the selection, discharge, supervision or control of Firm’s employees, representatives or agents, or in fixing their number, compensation of hours of service.
10. Nondiscrimination.
In the performance of this Agreement, the Firm shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, medical condition, or any other unlawful basis.
11. Assignment and Delegation.
This Agreement contemplates the personal professional services of the Firm.
Neither this Agreement nor any portion thereof shall be assigned or delegated to another firm without the prior written consent of the City. Delegation to attorneys outside the Firm shall be limited to those situations in which the Firm is disqualified by virtue of a conflict of interest, or where the Firm does not possess the expertise to competently perform services in a particular practice area. Delegation shall not be made without the prior written approval of the City Manager. The Firm shall supervise delegated work, except where precluded from doing so by virtue of a conflict of interest, and where otherwise agreed to by the parties hereto.
12. No Warranties
The Firm has made no guarantees to the City concerning the outcome of any matter undertaken under the terms of this Agreement, and nothing in this Agreement will be construed as such a guarantee. The City acknowledges that Firm has not made any such representations, promises, warranties or guarantees to it, express or implied.
13. Insurance.
A. The Firm currently maintains in full force and effect a professional liability insurance policy which provides coverage in an amount not less than $2,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate. Said insurance policy provides coverage to the City for any damages or losses suffered by the City as a result of any error or omission or neglect by the Firm which arises out of the professional services required by this Agreement.
B. The Firm currently maintains workers’ compensation insurance in accordance with Section 3700 of the California Labor Code. 701
6 C. The Firm agrees to notify City in the event the limits of its insurance should fall below the coverages stated in paragraph A or if the insurance policies noted here are allowed to lapse and substitute insurance is not obtained.
14. Indemnification.
The Firm shall indemnify, hold harmless and defend City, its officers, agents, employees and volunteers from and against any and all claims and losses, costs or expenses for any damage due to death or injury to any person and injury to any property resulting from any alleged intentional, reckless, or negligent acts, errors or omissions of the Firm in the performance of this Agreement.
15. Conflicts of Interest.
The Firm and its members shall comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, including the conflict of interest provisions of Government Code section 1090 and the Political Reform Act (Government Code section 81000 et seq.).
16. Permits and Approvals.
The Firm and its members shall obtain, at the Firm’s sole cost and expense, all permits, and licenses necessary in the performance of this Agreement.
17. Use of Artificial Intelligence
Firm may use artificial intelligence tools in our representation of City . If we do so, we will ensure that City’s confidential information is maintained in confidence and that any writing or analysis produced by generative artificial intelligence is edited or confirmed by an attorney before use. If City has any questions or concerns about Firm’s use of artificial intelligence tools, please let us know.
18. Severability.
If any term or provision of this Agreement or the application thereof to any person or circumstance shall, to any extent, be invalid or unenforceable, then such term or provision shall be amended to, and solely to, the extent necessary to cure such invalidity or unenforceability, and in its amended form shall be enforceable. In such event, the remainder of this Agreement, or the application of such term or provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid or unenforceable, shall not be affected thereby, and each term and provision of this Agreement shall be valid and be enforced to the fullest extent permitted by law. 702
7 19. Entire Agreement.
This Agreement, together with Exhibits “A”and “B” hereto, shall constitute the full and complete agreement and understanding of the parties and shall be deemed to supersede all other written or oral statements of any party hereto relating to the subject matter hereof.
TO EFFECTUATE THIS AGREEMENT, the parties have caused their duly authorized representatives to execute this Agreement on the dates set forth below. “City” “Firm”
City of American Canyon, California Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC By:_______________________________ By: ________________________________ Title:_______________________________ Title:_______________________________ Date: _____________________________ Date: ______________________________ 703
8 EXHIBIT A
Scope of Services and Applicable Billing Rates
A. General Legal Services. The general legal services to be provided by the Firm to the City shall include:
1. Provide routine legal assistance, advice and consultation to the City Council and to City staff relating to general public law issues.
2. Provide advice regarding the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, the Political Reform Act, parliamentary procedure, conflicts of interests and Government Code 1090, CEQA and NPDES, joint powers agreements, election law, prevailing wages and federal and state procurement requirements.
3. Prepare, review, approve, and prepare ordinances, resolutions, staff reports, acquisition agreements, public works contracts, general contracts and professional services agreements, deeds, leases, promissory notes, legal notices, correspondence, and other related legal documents.
4. Review contracts, bid specifications, and purchasing documents for legal and policy compliance, appropriate risk transfer (i.e., indemnity and insurance), and risk analysis and avoidance as requested.
5. Attend all meetings of the City Council and Planning Commission, and such meetings of other Boards and Commissions of the City as may occasionally be specified by the City.
6. Provide training and advice regarding the Brown Act, parliamentary procedure and meeting management, the Public Records Act, AB 1234, conflicts of interest, AB 1825, AB 1661, ethics, election law, CEQA and NPDES, land use, and other routine topics for city staff, and appointed and elected officials.
We will provide a 2-hour training session in AB 1234/ethics once per year via Zoom (can be done in person if coupled with regular meeting or other meeting) on a mutually agreeable date; additional training will be billed at the General Legal Services rate.
7. Provide attorneys on-site for regular office hours on Council meeting days as requested by the City Manager or the City Council. Additional office hours will be provided as requested by the City Manager or the City Council and compensated under paragraph b. below.
704
9 8. Promptly returning phone calls, texts, emails from the City Council and City staff, and communicate with the press when authorized to do so.
9. Perform such other or additional general legal services (not identified in Special Services or other types of services listed in b. below) as may be requested by the City, acting by and through the City Council or the City Manager.
10. Regulatory planning, land use, and code enforcement advice to staff.
11. Monitor pending state and federal legislation and regulations, and new case law, as appropriate.
The general legal services specified above will be billed at the regular hourly rates of the attorneys and other professionals providing such services up to a maximum of $275 per hour, subject to an agreed-upon monthly retainer.
B. Special Legal Services. The following “special” legal services (excluding those described in a. above) are not included in “general services” or a retainer:
1. Advice regarding revenue measures, local taxes, fees, assessments, and other advice regarding municipal finance law, including Propositions 218 and 26.
2. Environmental Legal Services other than routine review of negative declarations, environmental impact reports and project-level environmental documentation.
3. Labor and employment matters, including employee discipline, personnel rules, MOU drafting/interpretation, employment contracts and settlement agreements, PERS issues.
4. Advice on and drafting of agreements for real estate and economic development services, including exclusive negotiating agreements, disposition and development agreements, development agreements, and related real estate and eminent domain services other than routine review of escrow documents, title reports and standard sale or purchase contracts.
5. Insurance Coverage Services, such as advice and representation regarding disputes with the applicable risk pool or another insurance provider other than routine advice to tender claims to insurers.
6. Water Law Services.
705
10 7. Airport Law.
8. Railroad and CPUC.
9. Cannabis regulation and enforcement.
10. Litigation.
11. Such other specialized services as may be required by the City.
The specialized legal services specified in this paragraph shall be billed at the regular hourly rates of the attorneys providing such services when those services are provided up to a maximum of $385 per hour.
“Litigation” is defined as preparation of any Basic or Special Services matter for trial, mediation, arbitration or other adversarial forum, from time of decision to proceed to such forum or from time of receipt of notice of notice of claim, filing, complaint or suit, through resolution of such action. Litigation may be criminal, administrative or civil matters.
“Appeal” is defined as a the review of any Litigation matter by a reviewing tribunal or body. Does not include appeal of commission decisions to City Council. “Reimbursable” fees is for work where the City has a reimbursement agreement with a private party (e.g., developer) or other agency for the reimbursement of fees and costs associated with a project being processed for the City. The Firm remains the attorney for the City but the fees are paid for by the third party. This typically is work performed on land development projects.
706
11 EXHIBIT B
Hourly Billing Rates as of January 1, 2025:
We also propose that work for which the City will seek reimbursement from third parties, such as developers or other counterparties by contract, be billed at a capped rate of $495 per hour. By billing reimbursable services at this higher rate, we can keep our other rates lower for costs borne by the City. Reimbursable projects shall be provided at a capped hourly rate of $495 per hour. These proposed rates are summarized below.
Service Description Capped Rates
Basic Services General Legal Services $275 per hour
Extraordinary
Services
Specialized Legal Services $385 per hour
Labor & Employment $385 per hour
Litigation $385 per hour
Appellate Litigation $425 per hour
Other Services
Reimbursable $495 per hour
Paralegals $200 per hour
Public Records Act
Requests
$250 per hour attorneys
$200 per hour for paralegals
Other Costs
Photocopies: $0.20/page over 25
pages
$1 facsimile transactions
Mileage: $0.65 cents/mile
Travel
½ general services rate from
Walnut Creek, Contra Costa
County/At cost all other travel
Travel time for performance of services shall be charged one-half the Basic Services hourly rate portal to portal from attorney’s office of residence. Travel costs shall be billed at-cost (e.g., air fare, hotel, and transportation). Mileage for use of attorney’s own vehicle shall be at the IRS rate. Billable travel time for litigation and reimbursable matters would be at the Basic Service hourly rate portal to portal from attorney’s office of residence.
707
12 The Firm will not charge for word-processing services or secretarial overtime. The Firm will make best efforts to avoid the use of outgoing faxes, and the costs associated with them, by use of e-mail, U.S. Mail and other means. Outgoing faxes will be charged at $1 per page. The Firm will not charge the City for routine computerized legal research such as Lexis-Nexis or Westlaw research, but will pass through to the City at cost, without markup, its cost for use of specialized databases outside the Firm’s contract with Westlaw or a similar provider. All other expenses will be billed at cost, without markup. Costs will be separately designated on the Firm’s monthly statements as “disbursements,” and will be billed in addition to fees for professional services. 708
ATTACHMENT A: CHW NEWSLETTER
69 ATTACHMENT A:
CHW NEWSLETTER
709
Update on Public Law
Newsletter | Winter 2025
COLANTUONO, HIGHSMITH & WHATLEY, PC GRASS VALLEY | ORANGE COUNTY | PASADENA | SACRAMENTO | SONOMA Two Percent Cap on Local Sales Tax
Fosters Litigation
By Michael G. Colantuono, Esq.
The Revenue & Taxation Code allows cities and counties to propose, and local voters to adopt, supplemental sales taxes (“transactions and use taxes”) to be collected by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration along with the Bradley-Burns 1 percent local sales tax, the state sales tax, transportation, and other sales and use taxes. But it imposes a 2 percent cap on all city and county special taxes taken together. Given recent reliance on sales taxes to address funding gaps, many areas (particularly LA County and the Bay Area) are hitting the cap. The Legislature has responded with a small handful of bills granting exceptions to the cap for a larger handful of cities and counties.
Perhaps because the Revenue and Taxation Code gives enormous holdup leverage to plaintiffs by requiring CDTFA to escrow tax proceeds while litigation is pending, many challenges to local sales taxes have arisen in recent years, some testing the 2 percent cap and exceptions to it.
The County of Alameda, for example, litigated its March 2020 Measure C initiative special tax to fund childhood healthcare and education until January 2024 – a four-year delay. The January 2024 decision of the San Francisco Court of Appeal upheld the tax, concluding in a published portion of its decision that initiative special taxes require only simple majority voter approval — not the two-thirds required for special taxes government propose. It also ruled that naming the Oakland Children’s Hospital as a potential advisor as to healthcare spending did not violate our Constitution’s prohibition on initiatives which name persons or entities to government roles. In unpublished (and therefore nonprecedential) discussion, the Court also concluded Measure C complied with the 2 percent cap on local sales taxes, due to statutory exceptions. It also ruled the exceptions were not unconstitutional “special legislation” because the Legislature had a rational basis to grant an exemption to Alameda County (and a few other local governments).
Alameda County’s November 2020 Measure W — a general sales tax proposed by the Board of Supervisors to fund homelessness and other general fund services for 10 years — was upheld by the San Francisco Court of Appeal on Jan. 31, 2025, nearly halfway through the life of the tax. The Court found the tax to be a general tax notwithstanding mention of homelessness services in the ballot question (continued on page 3)
Sacramento Office on
the Move!
As of February 1, CHW’s
Sacramento office moved
into new space. The new
address is:
555 University Avenue,
Suite 275
Sacramento, CA 95825
The phone is unchanged
at (916) 400-0370.
Shareholder Gary Bell,
City and Town Attorney
of Auburn, Novato and
Yountville leads the
office. Others in this
team are Lakeport City
Attorney McKenzie
Anderson, Colfax City
Attorney Conor Harkins,
and new associates John
Hope and Mihir Karode.
If you find yourself in the
neighborhood, stop by
and say “hello”!
710
COLANTUONO, HIGHSMITH & WHATLEY, PC GRASS VALLEY | ORANGE COUNTY | PASADENA | SACRAMENTO | SONOMA UPCCAA Filing Requirements
By Aleks R. Giragosian, Esq.
The California Uniform Public Construction Cost
Accounting Act or UPCCAA allows public agencies to lift the relatively low bidding threshold for public works projects.
Under the general rules, projects valued at over $5,000 for cities or $15,000 for sanitary districts, for example, must be competitively bid. These thresholds may be onerous, as
public bidding requires substantial administrative effort.
UPCCAA allows higher bidding thresholds. As originally
adopted, it allowed projects of:
• $15,000 or less to be performed by force account
(i.e., an agency’s own employees), negotiated
contract, or purchase order;
• more than $15,000 to $50,000 to be let by informal
bidding; and
• more $50,000 to be let by formal bidding.
Those thresholds have increased over time.
Effective Jan, 1, 2025, AB 2192 (Carrillo, D-Palmdale)
established these thresholds:
• $75,000 or less to be performed by
force account, negotiated contract, or purchase
order;
• more than $75,000 to $220,000 to be let by
informal bidding; and
• more than $220,000 to be let by formal bidding.
But a local public agency cannot simply rely on these new thresholds!
An agency must first confirm it opted into UPCCAA by
ordinance and provided a copy of that ordinance to the State Controller. If you’re not on the Controller’s list, you’re can’t use UPCCAA. Check here: https://www.sco.ca.gov/
Files-ARD-Local/participating_agencies_-_general.pdf
Second, an agency must confirm its ordinance provides
for automatic adjustment of bidding thresholds as the statute changes. Often, agencies opting into UPCCAA adopt fixed thresholds. If an ordinance does not authorize automatic adjustment, an agency must amend its ordinance or
purchasing policy either to adopt UPCCAA’s new thresholds or to automatically adjust as that statute is amended.
UPCCAA provides great flexibility to local governments.
If your agency has not invoked it, you may wish to. If you have, make sure your ordinance is current and you have filed it with the State Controller.
For more information, contact Aleks at
[email protected] or 213.542.5734
Cell Tower Tug of War Continues
By Matthew T. Summers, Esq. & John P. Hope, Esq.
The 9th Circuit recently partly upheld a 2020 FCC ruling regulating cities’ and other governments’ authority to control changes to cell towers and other wireless facilities. The ruling requires agencies to streamline decision-making and
approvals for “non-substantial” changes to cell towers. “Substantial changes” can be subjected to an agency’s
standard, often stricter, cell tower permitting process.
The good news for local governments is that the 9th
Circuit invalidated the FCC ruling’s new definition of
“substantial change” to a cell tower’s stealth and
concealment elements as an improper legislative rule — one not adopted consistently with the Administrative Procedures Act. The FCC may try to fix this by a new rulemaking. Agreeing that concealment and stealth elements are not necessarily the same, the Court ruled each deserves protection under current law. For example, siting a cell tower atop a building, out of sight from the ground, is a concealment element, while designing it to look like a tree is a stealth element. This conclusion reestablishes local authority to require wireless facilities to maintain both stealth and concealment elements.
To protect these rights, agencies should clearly define such design elements in permits and as-built surveys and
document them to inform later permit applications.
Less helpfully, the 9th Circuit upheld the FCC’s new shotclock rule. Under regulations dating to 2014, agencies have 60 days to approve or deny applications to change a wireless facility, with limited tolling if an application is incomplete. A completed application not timely approved or denied can be “deemed granted.” In response, many agencies adopted
streamlined processes to review modification applications.
Under the new FCC rule, applicants now control when a shot clock starts. It now starts when an applicant takes the first procedural step required by the agency for a modification request and submits a written statement invoking the rule.
This effectively shortens the clock, requiring cities and counties to review applications promptly and complete
review within 60 days of submission, plus any tolling periods.
The 9th Circuit also upheld other aspects of the new
regulations – including antenna-height rules and allowing up to four new equipment cabinets with each modification
application. We expect further FCC rulemaking given
continuing technological and governance change. Stay tuned! For more information, contact Matt at
[email protected] or 213.542.5719 or John at
[email protected] or 916.898.4727
711
COLANTUONO, HIGHSMITH & WHATLEY, PC GRASS VALLEY | ORANGE COUNTY | PASADENA | SACRAMENTO | SONOMA 2025 Levine Act Updates
By Taylor M. Anderson, Esq.
The Levine Act aims to prevent “pay-to-play” practices
by restricting campaign contributions to elected and
appointed officials of an agency by those with business before the agency. It prohibits officials from acting on matters if they have received certain campaign contributions from those interested in a contract, permit, or other
entitlement.
Previously, the Levine Act applied only to appointed
officials, but it was expanded in 2023 to include elected officials. The change was challenging to implement, raising concerns it would chill civic participation. The Legislature adopted AB 1181 (Zbur, D-West Hollywood) and SB 1243
(Dodd, D-Napa), effective Jan. 1, 2025 to address these concerns.
Major changes include:
• Increased Threshold for Recusal. To trigger a duty to recuse, donations must now reach $500 in the 12
months before a decision, up from $250.
• Exempt Contracts. The “licenses, permits, or other
entitlement for use” that may trigger a duty to
recuse now exclude:
o Competitively bid contracts.
o Labor contracts.
o Personal employment contracts.
o Contracts valued at less than $50,000.
o Contracts by which no one receives
compensation.
o Contracts between or among public
agencies.
o Periodic review or renewal of competitively
bid or development agreements without
material modifications.
o Modifications or amendments to exempt
contracts (other than competitively bid
contracts).
• Cure Period. The period in which an official can
avoid the duty to recuse by returning a contribution
is now 30 days (up from 14) after receiving it. This
period starts from the later of when the officer
makes a decision or learns about the contribution
and a matter requiring decision.
• Definition of “Pending.” A matter is “pending”
before an agency so as to trigger the contribution
limit when a related item is placed on an agency’s
agenda; or when the officer knows the matter is
within the agency’s jurisdiction and it is foreseeable
that the officer will be involved.
• Participants Don’t Pay Dues. The definition of
“participant” now excludes individuals whose only
financial interest results from a potential change in
membership dues (like a Rotary Club).
• City Attorneys and County Counsels No Longer
“Officers.” If their role is only providing legal advice and they have no decision-making authority in a
proceeding, the Levine Act no longer applies to local
government counsel.
The FPPC considered revised regulations to implement
these changes on Jan. 16th. Revised regulations could be adopted as soon as Mar. 20th.
For more information, contact Taylor at
[email protected] or 626.219.2768
Two Percent Cap on Local Sales Tax
Fosters Litigation
(continued from page 1)
and campaign messages about such services because the
measure said tax proceeds could be used for any lawful
County purpose — as the “no” argument emphasized. The
Court also ruled statutory exemptions from the cap citing “unique fiscal pressures” on the benefited local governments did not violate the special legislation rule. But unlike the Measure C case, this ruling is precedential. It will help us defend the City of Campbell in a similar case recently filed by the counsel who sued Alameda on Measures C and W.
The Legislature might wish to revisit the statute
requiring CDTFA to escrow sales tax proceeds pending
litigation. It creates holdup leverage and invites weak arguments like those rejected in the two Alameda County cases. In the meantime, local governments should take care when crafting sales taxes (using CDTFA’s mandatory form of ordinance) to avoid inviting procedural arguments like these.
Cross your T’s and dot your I’s!
For more information, contact Michael at
[email protected] or 530.432.7357
712
420 SIERRA COLLEGE DRIVE
SUITE 140
GRASS VALLEY, CA 95945
Are you on our list? To subscribe to our newsletter or to update your information, complete the form below and fax it to 530.432.7356. You can also call Marta Farmer at 530.432.7357 or subscribe via our website at https://chwlaw.us/newsletter-subscribe/.
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Copyright © 2025 Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC. All rights reserved.
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LOS ANGELES, CA
PERMIT #200
713
334237.1 1
AGREEMENT FOR LEGAL SERVICES
This Agreement for Legal Services (“Agreement”) is made and entered into by and between the law firm of Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC, (“Firm’’) and the City of American Canyon, a California Municipal corporation. (“City”).
RECITALS
A. The City desires to retain the Firm to provide legal services as City Attorney.
B. The attorneys of the Firm are duly licensed under the laws of the State of California and are fully qualified to discharge the duties of the office of City Attorney and to provide the services contemplated by this Agreement.
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereto agree as follows:
1. Scope of Services.
A. The Firm shall discharge the duties of City Attorney of the City of American Canyon and shall use its best efforts to provide legal services in a competent and professional manner. The Firm shall provide all legal services to the City of the kind and nature typically provided by an in-house City Attorney’s office and as provided in the American Canyon Municipal Code unless specifically stated otherwise in this Agreement or otherwise directed in writing by the City. Unless otherwise prohibited by conflict-ofinterest rules and/or otherwise directed by the City Council as it pertains to the City’s Existing Litigation set forth in Exhibit “B”, the Firm shall supervise the activities of all other counsel retained by or for the City and shall review the work of such counsel on behalf of the City when requested by the City.
B. The legal services to be provided by the Firm shall consist of those set forth in Exhibit “A” attached hereto and shall be billed at the rates and for the costs set forth in Exhibit “B” attached hereto.
2. Designation of City Attorney, Assistant City Attorney, and Use of Other Attorneys.
A. Teresa L. Highsmith is designated as City Attorney for the City. The parties understand and agree that the Firm may, from time to time, utilize other attorneys within the Firm to assist Ms. Highsmith in the performance of this Agreement. Upon request by the City Manager or City Council, Ms. Highsmith will attend regularly scheduled Council 714
334237.1 2
meetings or other special meetings. If Ms. Highsmith is unable to attend meetings, another attorney will attend in her place. City Attorney will supervise all services rendered under this Agreement.
B. Matthew T. Summers is designated as primary Assistant City Attorney, Mackenzie Anderson is secondary Assistant City Attorney, and all other attorneys at the firm may be called to assist with representation of the City as additional Assistant City Attorneys.
C. The Firm will limit the attendance of more than one attorney at any meeting, proceeding or deposition to circumstances where such attendance is necessary for the benefit of the client.
D. The parties will cooperate to avoid unnecessary travel to the City for meetings, especially when substantially similar service can be provided remotely via teleconference or video conference.
3. Billing Procedures, Payment and Credits.
A. The Firm shall submit to the City, within thirty (30) days after the end of each calendar month, a confidential statement itemizing the professional services provided and the time expended to provide those services in the form customarily submitted by the Firm to other clients which are billed on an hourly basis for review and approval by the Mayor and City Manager (and/or their designee). In addition, the Firm shall submit a separate, non-confidential summary statement suitable for transmittal to the City’s accounts payable for processing.
B. Time will be charged by the Firm in increments of 1/10 of an hour (i.e., sixminute units). The rate structure in general, or the rates of attorneys of particular levels of experience. The current hourly rates of the Firm’s professionals are shown in Exhibit B attached hereto.
C. The parties acknowledge that payment of all monthly statements is expected to be made within thirty (30) days of the billing date. The City will not be liable for interest or finance charges, though persistent late payment shall be a basis for the Firm to review its relationship with the City.
D. On occasion, Firm may receive small sums of money belonging to City, such as a credit for an overpayment by a vendor, a refund from a court, or the like. The California State Bar requires us to alert you to the sums we receive on your behalf within 715
334237.1 3
14 days of receipt and to forward those funds to City within 45 days of receipt unless we have your direction otherwise. Processing payments for small amounts may be burdensome to your accounting staff and to ours. Therefore, by signing this Agreement for legal services, City agrees that, should Firm receive any amount to City’s credit of $500 or less and Firm does not have other instructions from you with respect to that money, Firm may place these funds in Firm’s client trust account and apply them to future invoices to City for Firm’s services. City can alter this agreement at any time as to some or all funds we hold by letting Firm know, in writing, how Firm should handle City’s money. Firm will inform City of Firm’s receipt of funds promptly upon each receipt and will remind City of City’s right to alter these standing instructions as to any payment.
4. Resolution of Fee Disputes.
The City is entitled to require that any fee dispute be resolved by binding arbitration in Sacramento County pursuant to the arbitration rules of the Sacramento County Bar Association for legal fee disputes. In the event City chooses not to utilize the Sacramento County Bar Association’s arbitration procedures, City agrees that all disputes regarding the professional services rendered or fees charged by the Firm shall be submitted to binding arbitration in Sacramento County to be conducted by JAMS in accordance with its commercial arbitration rules.
5. Term of the Agreement.
This Agreement shall be effective as of July 16, 2025 (“Effective Date”) and shall be and remain in full force and effect until terminated in accordance with the provisions of Section 6 hereof.
6. Termination of the Agreement.
City has the right to terminate the Firm’s representation at any time, without cause, subject to an obligation to give notice in writing to the Firm at least thirty (30) days prior to termination. Termination is effective thirty (30) days from the date of the written notice unless otherwise specified therein. The Firm has the same right, subject to the Firm’s ethical obligations to allow the City sufficient notice prior to termination so that City will be able to arrange alternative representation. In either circumstance, City agrees to secure new counsel as quickly as possible and to cooperate fully in the substitution of the new counsel as counsel of record in any action in which the Firm may represent the City. The Firm agrees to cooperate fully in any such transition, including the transfer of files. Notwithstanding the termination of the Firm’s representation, City will remain obligated to pay to the Firm all fees and costs incurred prior thereto. 716
334237.1 4
7. Files and Records.
A. All legal files of the Firm pertaining to the City shall be and remain the property of City. The Firm will control the physical location of such files during the term of this Agreement. The Firm may, in its discretion, maintain all or part of the City’s client file in electronic format. The Firm may store part or all of the City’s electronic documents using secure cloud storage services. If so, the Firm will use all reasonable methods to maintain the confidentiality of City files, just as it does for the City’s non-digital files. The City’s data will be password protected and encrypted using currently available technology.
B. The Firm shall maintain full and accurate records with respect to all matters covered under this Agreement for a period of three years after the expiration or termination of this Agreement. If the City asks the Firm to deliver its file to the City, delivery of an electronic version, together with any materials that cannot be saved electronically, satisfies the Firm’s obligation to release all client papers and property to the City. Three years after termination of the attorney-client relationship, and after reasonable notice, the Firm will be free to destroy the City’s client file, including all electronic records. The Firm may also discharge its obligation to maintain the City’s file prior to the expiration of three years by mailing a copy to the City. “Reasonable notice” means the Firm’s mailing of a notice of our intent to destroy your client file to the City.
C. City shall have the right to access and examine records of the Firm pertaining to the City, without charge, during normal business hours upon written request, provided, however, that Firm may protect the confidences of its other clients in providing this information to the City and otherwise comply with applicable law. City shall further have the right to audit such records, to make transcripts therefrom and to inspect all data, documents, proceedings, and activities upon written request, provided, however, that Firm may protect the confidences of its other clients in providing this information to the City and otherwise comply with applicable law. The Firm does not permit direct access to its files by clients, but will provide the City access to the Firm’s records pertaining to the City as provided herein and upon written request. This same procedure will apply to information stored in the cloud.
8. Modifications to the Agreement.
This Agreement may be amended from time to time by agreement of the parties.
Unless otherwise provided in this Agreement, modifications relating to the nature, extent, or duration of the Firm’s professional services to be rendered hereunder shall 717
334237.1 5
require the prior written approval of the City Council. Any such written approval shall be deemed to be a supplement to this Agreement and shall specify any changes in the Scope of Services and the agreed-upon billing rates to be charged by the Firm and paid by the City.
9. Independent Contractor.
No employment relationship is created by this Agreement. The Firm and its members shall, for all purposes, be an independent contractor to the City. Neither the City, nor any of its employees, shall have any control over the manner, mode or means by which Firm, its agents or employees, render the legal services required under this Agreement. The city shall have no voice in the selection, discharge, supervision or control of Firm’s employees, representatives or agents, or in fixing their number, compensation of hours of service.
10. Nondiscrimination.
In the performance of this Agreement, the Firm shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, medical condition, or any other unlawful basis.
11. Assignment and Delegation.
This Agreement contemplates the personal professional services of the Firm.
Neither this Agreement nor any portion thereof shall be assigned or delegated to another firm without the prior written consent of the City. Delegation to attorneys outside the Firm shall be limited to those situations in which the Firm is disqualified by virtue of a conflict of interest, or where the Firm does not possess the expertise to competently perform services in a particular practice area. Delegation shall not be made without the prior written approval of the City Manager. The Firm shall supervise delegated work, except where precluded from doing so by virtue of a conflict of interest, and where otherwise agreed to by the parties hereto.
12. No Warranties
The Firm has made no guarantees to the City concerning the outcome of any matter undertaken under the terms of this Agreement, and nothing in this Agreement will be construed as such a guarantee. The City acknowledges that Firm has not made any such representations, promises, warranties or guarantees to it, express or implied. 718
334237.1 6
13. Insurance.
A. The Firm currently maintains in full force and effect a professional liability insurance policy which provides coverage in an amount not less than $2,000,000 per occurrence and $4,000,000 aggregate. Said insurance policy provides coverage to the City for any damages or losses suffered by the City as a result of any error or omission or neglect by the Firm which arises out of the professional services required by this Agreement.
B. The Firm currently maintains workers’ compensation insurance in accordance with Section 3700 of the California Labor Code.
C. The Firm agrees to notify City in the event the limits of its insurance should fall below the coverages stated in paragraph A or if the insurance policies noted here are allowed to lapse and substitute insurance is not obtained.
14. Indemnification.
The Firm shall indemnify, hold harmless and defend City, its officers, agents, employees and volunteers from and against any and all claims and losses, costs or expenses for any damage due to death or injury to any person and injury to any property resulting from any alleged intentional, reckless, or negligent acts, errors or omissions of the Firm in the performance of this Agreement.
15. Conflicts of Interest.
A. The Firm and its members shall comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, including the conflict-of-interest provisions of Government Code section 1090 and the Political Reform Act (Government Code section 81000 et seq.).
B. The City acknowledges the Firm has other existing clients and the Firm’s attorneys are bound by State Bar of California’s Conflict of Interest Rules which may limit services that can be performed unless and until appropriate conflict waivers are obtained. At the onset of this agreement, known potential conflicts include: the City of Vallejo and the Napa County Local Agency Formation Commission (Napa LAFCO) When presented with situations of potential conflict between City and its other clients, including those listed above - the Firm shall engage Special Conflict Counsel at its sole expense and solicit conflict waivers from City and other clients whenever possible.
16. Permits and Approvals.
719
334237.1 7
The Firm and its members shall obtain, at the Firm’s sole cost and expense, all permits, and licenses necessary in the performance of this Agreement.
17. Use of Artificial Intelligence
Firm may use artificial intelligence tools in our representation of City. If we do so, we will ensure that City’s confidential information is maintained in confidence and that any writing or analysis produced by generative artificial intelligence is edited or confirmed by an attorney before use. If City has any questions or concerns about Firm’s use of artificial intelligence tools, please let us know.
18. Severability.
If any term or provision of this Agreement or the application thereof to any person or circumstance shall, to any extent, be invalid or unenforceable, then such term or provision shall be amended to, and solely to, the extent necessary to cure such invalidity or unenforceability, and in its amended form shall be enforceable. In such event, the remainder of this Agreement, or the application of such term or provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid or unenforceable, shall not be affected thereby, and each term and provision of this Agreement shall be valid and be enforced to the fullest extent permitted by law.
19. Entire Agreement.
This Agreement, together with Exhibits “A” and “B” hereto, shall constitute the full and complete agreement and understanding of the parties and shall be deemed to supersede all other written or oral statements of any party hereto relating to the subject matter hereof.
720
334237.1 8
TO EFFECTUATE THIS AGREEMENT, the parties have caused their duly authorized representatives to execute this Agreement on the dates set forth below. “City” “Firm”
City of American Canyon, California Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC By: ________________________________ By: _______________________________ Name: Pierre Washington Name______________________________ Title:: Mayor Title:_______________________________
Date: _____________________________ Date: ______________________________ 721
334237.1 9
EXHIBIT A
Scope of Services and Applicable Billing Rates
A. General Legal Services. The general legal services to be provided by the Firm to the City shall include:
1. Provide routine legal assistance, advice and consultation to the City Council and to City staff relating to general public law issues.
2. Provide advice regarding the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, the Political Reform Act, parliamentary procedure, conflicts of interests and Government Code 1090, CEQA and NPDES, joint powers agreements, election law, prevailing wages and federal and state procurement requirements.
3. Prepare, review, approve, and prepare ordinances, resolutions, staff reports, acquisition agreements, public works contracts, general contracts and professional services agreements, deeds, leases, promissory notes, legal notices, correspondence, and other related legal documents.
4. Review contracts, bid specifications, and purchasing documents for legal and policy compliance, appropriate risk transfer (i.e., indemnity and insurance), and risk analysis and avoidance as requested.
5. Attend all meetings of the City Council and Planning Commission, and such meetings of other Boards and Commissions of the City as may occasionally be specified by the City.
6. Provide training and advice regarding the Brown Act, parliamentary procedure and meeting management, the Public Records Act, AB 1234, conflicts of interest, AB 1825, AB 1661, ethics, election law, CEQA and NPDES, land use, and other routine topics for city staff, and appointed and elected officials. The Firm will provide a 2-hour training session in AB 1234/ethics once per year via Zoom (can be done in person if coupled with regular meeting or other meeting) on a mutually agreeable date; additional training will be billed at the General Legal Services rate.
7. Provide attorneys on-site for regular office hours on Council meeting days as requested by the City Manager or the City Council. Additional office hours will be provided as requested by the City Manager or the City Council and compensated under paragraph b. below.
8. Promptly returning phone calls, texts, emails from the City Council and City staff, and communicate with the press when authorized to do so. 722
334237.1 10
9. Perform such other or additional general legal services (not identified in Special Services or other types of services listed in b. below) as may be requested by the City, acting by and through the City Council or the City Manager.
10. Regulatory planning, land use, and code enforcement advice to staff.
11. Monitor pending state and federal legislation and regulations, and new case law, as appropriate.
The general legal services specified above will be billed at the regular hourly rates of the attorneys and other professionals providing such services as shown in Exhibit B subject to an agreed-upon monthly retainer.
B. Special Legal Services. The following “special” legal services (excluding those described in ”A” above) are not included in “general services” or a retainer:
1. Advice regarding revenue measures, local taxes, fees, assessments, and other advice regarding municipal finance law, including Propositions 218 and 26.
2. Environmental Legal Services other than routine review of negative declarations, environmental impact reports and project-level environmental documentation.
3. Labor and employment matters, including employee discipline, personnel rules, MOU drafting/interpretation, employment contracts and settlement agreements, PERS issues.
4. Advice on and drafting of agreements for real estate and economic development services, including exclusive negotiating agreements, disposition and development agreements, development agreements, and related real estate and eminent domain services other than routine review of escrow documents, title reports and standard sale or purchase contracts.
5. Insurance Coverage Services, such as advice and representation regarding disputes with the applicable risk pool or another insurance provider other than routine advice to tender claims to insurers.
6. Water Law Services.
7. Airport Law.
8. Railroad and CPUC.
9. Cannabis regulation and enforcement.
723
334237.1 11
10. Litigation.
11. Such other specialized services as may be required by the City.
The specialized legal services specified in this paragraph shall be billed at the regular hourly rates of the attorneys providing such services when those services are provided as shown in Exhibit B.
C. Additional Definitions.
1. “Litigation” is defined as preparation of any Basic or Special Services matter for trial, mediation, arbitration or other adversarial forum, from time of decision to proceed to such forum or from time of receipt of notice of notice of claim, filing, complaint or suit, through resolution of such action. Litigation may be criminal, administrative or civil matters.
2. “Appellate Litigation” is defined as the review of any Litigation matter by a reviewing tribunal or body but does not include appeal of commission decisions to City Council.
3. “Reimbursable” is defined as matters where the City has arranged its reimbursement of fees and costs associated with the work performed by the Firm. In these matters, the Firm remains the attorney for the City, the fees and costs are reimbursed by a third party. The most common example is work performed in support of private development, but this may also include grant funded capital projects or work reimbursed by another public agency. The higher rate for Reimbursable services does not occur unless and until the Firm receives notice from the City that it has received a private development application or executed an agreement with a third party that provides for reimbursement of services provided by the Firm.
4. “Existing Litigation” is defined as the following matters:
a. City of American Canyon v. City of Vallejo, et al. (Sacramento Superior Court Case No. 34-2022-00327471).
b. City of Vallejo v. City of American Canyon et al . (Third District Court of Appeal Case No. C102070; formerly Sacramento County Superior Court Case No. 23WM000055).
c. City of Vallejo v. City of American Canyon et al . (Sacramento County Superior Court Case No. 24WM000078).
d. City of Vallejo v. City of American Canyon et al. (Marin County Superior Court Case No. CV0003752).
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e. Cherri Walton v. City of American Canyon (Napa Superior Court Case No. 25CV000796).
f. Joanne Perez v. City of American Canyon (Napa County Superior Court Case No. 23CV001474).
725
334237.1 13
EXHIBIT B
Hourly Billing Rates for the services described in Exhibit A are shown below as of the Effective Date.
Commencing on July1 , 2026, and on July 1 of every year thereafter, the Firm may increase the rates specified below by the previous 12 months’ change in the Consumer Price Index, San Francisco Metropolitan Area, All Consumers (utilizing the most recent CPI data available), not to exceed 5%, round to the nearest $5.00, to reflect increases in overhead and other costs.
Service Description Capped Rates
Basic Legal
Services General $275 per hour
Extraordinary
Legal Services
Specialized $385 per hour
Labor & Employment $385 per hour
Litigation $385 per hour
Appellate Litigation $425 per hour
Reimbursable $495 per hour
Other Services
Paralegals $200 per hour
Public Records Act
Requests
$250 per hour attorneys
$200 per hour for paralegals
Other Costs
Photocopies: $0.20/page over 25
pages
$1 facsimile transactions
Mileage: $0.65 cents/mile
Travel
½ general services rate from
Walnut Creek, Contra Costa
County/At cost all other travel
Travel time for performance of services shall be charged one-half the Basic Services hourly rate portal to portal from attorney’s office of residence. Travel costs shall be billed at-cost (e.g., air fare, hotel, and transportation). Mileage for use of attorney’s own vehicle 726
334237.1 14
shall be at the IRS rate. Billable travel time for litigation and reimbursable matters would be at the Basic Service hourly rate portal to portal from attorney’s office of residence.
The Firm will not charge for word-processing services or secretarial overtime. The Firm will make best efforts to avoid the use of outgoing faxes, and the costs associated with them, by use of e-mail, U.S. Mail and other means. Outgoing faxes will be charged at $1 per page. The Firm will not charge the City for routine computerized legal research such as Lexis-Nexis or Westlaw research, but will pass through to the City at cost, without markup, its cost for use of specialized databases outside the Firm’s contract with Westlaw or a similar provider. All other expenses will be billed at cost, without markup. Costs will be separately designated on the Firm’s monthly statements as “disbursements,” and will be billed in addition to fees for professional services. 727
334237.1 15
728
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
JULY 15, 2025
STAFF REPORT
MANAGEMENT AND STAFF ORAL REPORTS
ITEM NUMBER: 20.
TITLE
Q1 FY25/26 Capital Project Schedule Update
RECOMMENDATION
Receive this informational item and provide feedback.
CONTACT
Erica Ahmann Smithies, P.E., Public Works Director/City Engineer Ron Ranada, P.E., Senior Civil Engineer
BACKGROUND & ANALYSIS
The Public Works Department will be providing quarterly updates on the status and delivery of Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) for the current fiscal year. City Council will be provided with a master project schedule, a map of citywide projects, and photos when available. The projects will include the name of the City staff member leading the project and consultant when applicable. At this :me there are some projects that do not include a project lead, but will be updated as the fiscal year unfolds.
FISCAL IMPACT
The Capital Improvement Program Budget was adopted by City Council on June 3, 2025.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
None
ATTACHMENTS:
1. FY25-26 Q1 CIP 90-Day Summary
2. FY25-26 Q1 CIP Schedule
3. FY25-26 Q1 CIP Project Map
4. FY25-26 Q1 CIP Construction Activity Update
729
Capital Project Accomplishments in the previous 90 Days:
I. On-Going Construction:
A. Knightsbridge Reconstruction and Water Main Project
Completed
B. Rancho Del Mar Paving and Utility Improvements
Completed: Domestic Water replacements, Sanitary Sewer lining, and Concrete ADA ramps C. Melvin Sidewalk and Drainage Project
Work started
D. Wetlands Edge Enhancement Project
Work started
E. Cartagena Manhole Rehab
Completed
F. Main Street Park Electrical
Completed
G. City Hall EV Charging Stations (addition and repair) Completed
II. Advertised and Awarded for Construction:
A. Green Island Road Reconstruction and Widening Project B. Green Island Class I Trail: pending Caltrans authorization C. City Hall Roof Replacement
D. Northampton Park Restroom
Structure purchased
E. Northampton Shade Structure
Structure purchased
F. Silver Oak Park Restroom
Structure purchased
G. SCADA Upgrades at the Water Reclamation Facility
III. Design
A. Northampton Park Restroom
Completed
B. Silver Oak Park Restroom
Completed
730
C. East American Canyon Road Guardrail Project – on-going (currently @ 65%) D. South Kelly & Hwy 29 (including Tower Road) – on-going (currently @ 65%) 731
Capital Project Goals for the next 90 Days:
I. Construction:
A. Rancho Del Mar Paving and Utility Improvements
Substantial Completion
On-going: Sanitary Sewer pipe bursting, Concrete driveway reconstruction, Patch paving, utility relocations by PG&E, AT&T, and Comcast
Pending: Cape Seal, FDR reconstruction, signage and striping B. Melvin Sidewalk and Drainage Project
Substantial Completion
On-going: Concrete curb, gutter, sidewalk, driveways, and ADA ramps Pending: Stormdrain, traffic calming, signage and striping C. Wetlands Edge Environmental Education
On-going: Site grading, paths, utilities, planting
Pending: Restroom installation, gazebo installation (long lead item) D. Green Island Road Reconstruction and Widening Project Begin construction
E. Northampton Shade Structure
Begin construction
F. City Hall Roof Replacement
G. SCADA Upgrades at Water Reclamation Facility
II. Advertise and/or Award of Construction Contracts:
A. Advertise East American Canyon Road Guardrail Project B. Award SCADA Upgrades at Water Treatment Plant
III. Design
A. Green Island Road Class I Trail – PS&E package breakout as separate Construction Project
B. South Kelly & Hwy 29 (including Tower Road) – on-going C. East American Canyon Road Guardrail Project – completion D. SS4 Broadway Sewer – completion
732
ID Task Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish
14 TR16-0700 Green Island Road 455 days? Thu 6/20/24 Wed 3/18/26 15 GREEN ISLAND ROAD RECONSTRUCTION AND WIDENING PROJECT 353 days? Thu 6/20/24 Mon 10/27/25 16 Green Island Road Reconstruction and Widening Project 353 days? Thu 6/20/24 Mon 10/27/25 17 Construction 168 days Mon 7/28/25 Wed 3/18/26 18 Green Island Road Class I Trail Project 74 days Tue 10/21/25 Fri 1/30/26 19 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 10/21/25 Tue 10/21/25 20 Construction 45 days Mon 12/1/25 Fri 1/30/26 83 WW20-0100 SS4 Broadway Sewer 404 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 1/9/26 84 WW20-0100 SS4 Broadway Sewer 404 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 1/9/26 85 Mainline (City) 235 days Mon 2/3/25 Fri 12/26/25 86 Design 129 days Mon 2/3/25 Thu 7/31/25 87 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 10/21/25 Tue 10/21/25 88 Construction 30 days Mon 11/17/25 Fri 12/26/25 89 SR29 Crossing (RSA) 404 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 1/9/26 90 Design 288 days Tue 6/25/24 Thu 7/31/25 91 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 10/21/25 Tue 10/21/25 92 Construction 40 days Mon 11/17/25 Fri 1/9/26 6 TR23-0100 Knightsbridge (ARPA) 0 days Tue 9/16/25 Tue 9/16/25 7 TR23-0100 Knightsbridge 0 days Tue 9/16/25 Tue 9/16/25 8 NOC 0 days Tue 9/16/25 Tue 9/16/25 71 TR24-0300 Rancho Del Mar (ARPA) 85 days Mon 6/9/25 Fri 10/3/25 72 TR24-0300 Rancho Del Mar 85 days Mon 6/9/25 Fri 10/3/25 73 Construction 85 days Mon 6/9/25 Fri 10/3/25 74 TR24-0200 Melvin SD and Swk (ARPA) 90 days Mon 6/2/25 Fri 10/3/25 75 TR24-0200 Melvin SD and Swk 90 days Mon 6/2/25 Fri 10/3/25 76 Construction 90 days Mon 6/2/25 Fri 10/3/25 66 TR24-0100 2024 Annual Paving (Cape) 259 days Tue 9/2/25 Fri 8/28/26 67 TR24-0100 Annual Paving (Cape) 259 days Tue 9/2/25 Fri 8/28/26 68 Design 87 days Tue 9/2/25 Wed 12/31/25 69 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 2/3/26 Tue 2/3/26 70 Construction 55 days Mon 6/15/26 Fri 8/28/26 56 TR23-0200 S Kelly - SR29 291 days Tue 6/25/24 Tue 8/5/25 57 TR23-0200 S Kelly - SR29 461 days Mon 1/20/25 Mon 10/26/26 58 Design 200 days Mon 1/20/25 Fri 10/24/25 59 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 11/4/25 Tue 11/4/25 60 Construction 161 days Mon 3/16/26 Mon 10/26/26 61 TR23-0300 Am Can Rd East Guardrail 164 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 2/7/25 62 TR23-0300 Am Can Rd East Guardrail 164 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 2/7/25 63 Design 135 days Mon 11/4/24 Fri 5/9/25 64 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 5/20/25 Tue 5/20/25 65 Construction 40 days Mon 6/16/25 Fri 8/8/25 1 WA24-0200 N Kelly Water Main 70 days Tue 7/1/25 Mon 10/6/25 2 WA24-0200 N Kelly Water Main 60 days Tue 7/1/25 Mon 9/22/25 3 Design 20 days Tue 7/1/25 Mon 7/28/25 4 Award Contract 0 days Tue 8/19/25 Tue 8/19/25 5 Construction 20 days Tue 9/9/25 Mon 10/6/25 9 PR23-0700 Silver Oak Restroom 199 days? Tue 6/25/24 Fri 3/28/25 10 PR23-0700 Silver Oak Park Restroom 379 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 12/5/25 11 Design 288 days Tue 6/25/24 Thu 7/31/25 12 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Mon 9/15/25 Mon 9/15/25 13 Construction 35 days Mon 10/20/25 Fri 12/5/25 9/16
9/16
9/16
8/19
9/15
Jun 29, '25 Jul 6, '25 Jul 13, '25 Jul 20, '25 Jul 27, '25 Aug 3, '25 Aug 10, '25 Aug 17, '25 Aug 24, '25 Aug 31, '25 Sep 7, '25 Sep 14, '25 Sep 21, '25 Sep 28, '25 Oct 5, '25
733
ID Task Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish
21 PR23-0500 Northampton Restroom 289 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 8/1/25 22 NORTHAMPTON RESTROOM 289 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 8/1/25 23 Design 288 days Tue 6/25/24 Thu 7/31/25 24 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Mon 9/15/25 Mon 9/15/25 25 Construction 35 days Mon 10/20/25 Fri 12/5/25 26 PR23-0400 Northampton Shade Structure 311 days Tue 6/25/24 Tue 9/2/25 27 NORTHAMPTON SHADE STRUCTURE 311 days Tue 6/25/24 Tue 9/2/25 28 Construction 35 days Mon 7/21/25 Fri 9/5/25 29 PR23-0200 Melvin Tennis Courts 80 days Mon 3/3/25 Fri 6/20/25 30 Melvin Tennis Courts 80 days Mon 3/3/25 Fri 6/20/25 31 Design 109 days Mon 3/3/25 Thu 7/31/25 32 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 10/7/25 Tue 10/7/25 33 Construction 30 days Mon 10/27/25 Fri 12/5/25 34 PR19-0100 Wetlands Enviro Educational Center 116 days Mon 4/28/25 Mon 10/6/25 35 WETLANDS ENVIRO EDU 116 days Mon 4/28/25 Mon 10/6/25 36 Construction 116 days Mon 4/28/25 Mon 10/6/25 37 CF23-0300 Corp Yard Relocation 526 days Tue 6/25/24 Tue 6/30/26 38 CORP YARD RELOCATION & UPGRADE 526 days Tue 6/25/24 Tue 6/30/26 39 Construction 526 days Tue 6/25/24 Tue 6/30/26 40 CF23-0100 City Hall Roof 201 days Tue 6/25/24 Tue 4/1/25 41 City Hall Roof Improvement 201 days Tue 6/25/24 Tue 4/1/25 42 Design 164 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 2/7/25 43 Award Contract (City Manager) 0 days Mon 3/3/25 Mon 3/3/25 44 Construction 22 days Mon 3/3/25 Tue 4/1/25 45 WA25-0100 Hanna Water Main (see TR16-0700) 46 WA26-0200 Water Treatment Plant SCADA 842 days? Thu 6/20/24 Fri 9/10/27 47 WA26-0200 Water Treatment Plant SCADA 842 days? Thu 6/20/24 Fri 9/10/27 48 Design 194 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 3/21/25 49 Award 0 days Tue 8/5/25 Tue 8/5/25 50 Implementation 540 days Mon 8/18/25 Fri 9/10/27 51 WW16-0300 SCADA 265 days? Tue 6/25/24 Mon 6/30/25 52 WW16-0300 SCADA 919 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 12/31/27 53 Design 194 days Tue 6/25/24 Fri 3/21/25 54 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 6/17/25 Tue 6/17/25 55 Implementation 655 days Mon 6/30/25 Fri 12/31/27 93 WW24-0100 Andrew Road Sewer Repair (see WW20-0100) 94 PR25-0600 Main Street Park Improvements 250 days? Mon 1/6/25 Fri 12/19/25 95 Design 171 days Mon 1/6/25 Mon 9/1/25 96 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 10/7/25 Tue 10/7/25 97 Construction 45 days? Mon 10/20/25 Fri 12/19/25 98 PR25-0400 Veterans Park Playground Replacement 280 days Tue 8/6/24 Mon 9/1/25 99 Design 90 days Wed 3/19/25 Tue 7/22/25 100 Award Contract (City Council) 0 days Tue 8/5/25 Tue 8/5/25 101 Construction 30 days Mon 11/3/25 Fri 12/12/25 102 CF24-0100 77 WA24-0100 Rio Del Mar Water Main (see TR24-0300) 78 WA23-0200 WTP Filter Media 191 days Mon 4/7/25 Mon 12/29/25 79 Design 191 days Mon 4/7/25 Mon 12/29/25 80 WA23-0100 WTP Shop 171 days Mon 4/7/25 Mon 12/1/25 81 Design 171 days Mon 4/7/25 Mon 12/1/25 82 PR23-0100 Melvin Park Improvements 246 days Mon 6/23/25 Mon 6/1/26 9/15
8/5 David Miller David Miller 8/5
Jun 29, '25 Jul 6, '25 Jul 13, '25 Jul 20, '25 Jul 27, '25 Aug 3, '25 Aug 10, '25 Aug 17, '25 Aug 24, '25 Aug 31, '25 Sep 7, '25 Sep 14, '25 Sep 21, '25 Sep 28, '25 Oct 5, '25
734
735
FY25-26 Q1
CIP Activity Update
736
Knightsbridge @ Danrose
2 Knightsbridge Way Water and Paving Improvements
Completed
Knightsbridge @ Senior Center
737
3 Knightsbridge Way Water and Paving Improvements
Work included wholesale change to FDR when poor subgrade was encountered, which significantly increases pavement life expectancy. 738
Sanitary sewer lining
4 Rancho Del Mar Paving and Utility Improvements
On-going
Water main improvements
(connection to Hwy 29 trunk line) 739
PG&E utility relocations 5
Rancho Del Mar Paving and Utility Improvements
Concrete
(Driveways, ADA curb ramps, etc.) 740
Concrete (sidewalks, ADA curb ramps, etc.) 6
Melvin Sidewalk and Drainage Project
Started/On-going
741
Site grading and flatwork, utilities, and planting 7
Wetlands Edge Enhancement Project
Started/On-going
742
City Council Committee Report
Submitted by: Mayor Pierre Washington Council Meeting Date: 07/15/2025 Event Date: 20/06/2025 Event Type Community Event
Event Title: * Leadership Napa Valley Class # 37
Event Report: The Mission of Napa Valley involves, inspires and informs leaders to strengthen our community.
The Vision is Leadership Napa Valley is the go-to organization for leadership development and engagement in Napa County.
Over the years the program has been refined and improved many times over, and today LNV is modeled after the best leadership training experiences in the country. More than 700 people have graduated from the program and gone forward with a deeper commitment to making Napa Valley a better place to live, work and grow. It is an intense, fun and educational experience. The program selects class members annually from a list of applicants who then embark on a 9-month journey together. During that time, they learn leadership skills, teamwork and experience the many different pieces that make this county such a special place to live.
One Friday a month (plus a couple of Saturdays) the group meets with its facilitator to learn about a new aspect of the community; this includes government, business, health industry, tourism, agriculture and more.
The class also works in teams to develop a meaningful project that they present near the end of the year, in the hopes that it will have a lasting positive impact on the community. In effect, it’s their first team effort at local leadership! Some of the past projects that came from LNV include “Hands Across the Valley” and the DARE Foundation.
CONGRADULATIONS to Davet Mohammed graduating in the 37th Class. 743
Event Date: 07/07/2025 Event Type Committee Report
Event Title: Napa Vallejo Waste Management Devlin Transfer Station tour Event Report: Synopsis:
Napa-Vallejo Waste Management Tour with Recycling Manager Steve Kelley On July 7, 2025, I participated in an informative tour of the Napa-Vallejo Waste Management facility, led by Recycling Manager Steve Kelley. The visit provided a comprehensive overview of the site’s operations, with a particular focus on the facility’s recycling and sustainability efforts.
Steve Kelley guided me through various key components of the operation, including the materials recovery facility (MRF), green waste processing areas, and the landfill management zones. During the tour, Kelley emphasized the facility’s commitment to increasing diversion rates, reducing landfill dependency, and promoting environmental education in the community.
Key highlights included discussions on:
• The sorting and processing of recyclable materials
• Innovations in composting and organic waste handling
• Ongoing challenges with contamination in recycling streams • Efforts to support the City’s climate action and zero-waste goals The tour also highlighted the importance of public participation in proper recycling practices and reinforced the value of strong city partnerships in advancing sustainable waste management solutions.
I was able to express my appreciation for the work being done at the facility and extended my continued support for collaborative efforts that protect the environment and serve the residents of American Canyon.
Event Date: 08/07/2025 Event Type: Community Event
Event Title: * ELITE summer of stars summer program, Vallejo Ca (Dr. Ramona Bishop) Event Report:
I had the honor to participate in Dr. Ramona Bishops Elite Summer School Program. The Elite Public Schools is a dynamic summer program designed to ignite passion, build essential life skills, and empower the next generation of leaders in the areas of Athletics, Art, STEM, and Entrepreneurship. 744
The program was held at Elite Public Schools’ Vallejo campus from June 2 through July 18 at 100 Whitney Avenue. The program aims to bring together local leaders, artists, entrepreneurs, and professionals committed to mentoring and inspiring youth through hands-on workshops, interactive sessions, and real-world experiences. The Summer Super Star Sessions aims to help young people see what’s possible for their future and giving them the tools, confidence, and mentorship they need to get there.
EWOC | About Dr. Ramona Bishop
Event Date: 04/07/2025 Event Type Community Event
Event Title: * American Canyon 4th of July 2025 Parade & Celebration Event Report:
What an incredible Fourth of July celebration in American Canyon! It was truly heartwarming to see our community come together to celebrate our nation’s independence with such pride, unity, and joy.
I want to sincerely thank every resident, family, and guest who came out to enjoy the festivities. Your energy and community spirit made this celebration truly special.
A heartfelt thank you to our outstanding Police and Fire Departments for ensuring the safety of everyone throughout the day and evening. Your professionalism and dedication are always appreciated, and especially during large community events like this.
I also want to express my deepest gratitude to our exceptional city staff who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this event a success. A special thank you to Assistant City Manager Juan Gomez, Deputy City Manager Alexandra “Allie” Ikeda, and Recreation Manager Alana Behn for your leadership, coordination, and unwavering commitment to making this celebration one to remember. 745
Together, we showed once again what makes American Canyon such a wonderful place to Live, Work and Play.
Thank you all for being part of it.
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Event Title: * Breakfast with the Mayors of Vallejo and Benica CA. Regional Collaboration for a Stronger Future Event Type Community Event
Event Report:
As Mayor of American Canyon, I had the privilege of participating in our quarterly meeting with Mayor Andrea Sorce of Vallejo and Mayor Steve Young of Benicia. These meetings are a valuable opportunity for our cities to come together, share ideas, and strengthen our regional partnerships. Our discussion focused on how we can collaborate more effectively to address shared challenges and explore joint solutions that enhance the safety, well-being, and quality of life for all of our residents, from public safety and economic development to environmental sustainability and infrastructure, we are united in our commitment to working together for the betterment of our communities.
I am grateful for the spirit of cooperation and mutual respect among our cities. When we collaborate, we all move forward.
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750
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS OF NOTE
July 24, 2025 Planning Commission Meeting.
6:30 p.m.
MEETING CANCELED
July 29, 2025 Special City Council
Meeting.Open Session 6:30 p.m.
AC-1 Development Agreement First
Amendment
August 5, 2025 Regular City Council Meeting
Quarterly Investment Report
Annual Investment Policy
NACC DA Extension Final Reading
Knightsbridge Reconstruction and Water
Improvements Project (TR23-0100): Notice of
Completion
August 6, 2025 OSATS Meeting. 6:30 p.m.
Bicycle Friendly Community Designation
CIP Project Update
Courtesy Trail Signage and Bicycle Speed Limits
August 14, 2025 Parks and Community Services
Meeting. 6:30 p.m.
Fiscal Year Work Plan 2025/26
August 19, 2025 Special Joint City
Council/Planning Commission Meeting
6:30p.m.
Development Standards
NVRG Entertainment Zone Overlay
American Canyon Community Arts
August 28, 2025 Planning Commission Meeting
6:30 p.m.
September 2, 2025 Regular City Council
Meeting 6:30 p.m.
Proclamation: Hispanic Heritage Month
Proclamation: National Recovery Month
Audubon Society Presentation
Crawford Way Townhome Tentative Map
September 3, 2025 OSATS Meeting. 6:30 p.m.
Confirm RCAAP is Project Description for CEQA
review.
September 11, 2025 Parks and Community
Services Meeting. 6:30 p.m.
September 16, 2025 Regular City Council
Meeting 6:30p.m.
Proclamation: National Suicide Prevention Month
Proclamation: National Community Planning
Month
Confirm RCAAP is Project Description for CEQA
Review
September 25, 2025 Planning Commission
Meeting 6:30 p.m.
Unscheduled Council Directed Items Councilmember
Date of Council
Vote Notes
All Electric Reach Code Joseph 11/7/2023
On hold pending RCAAP and Berkeley
litigation.
Food Ware Ordinance Joseph 9/17/2024 On hold, pending RCAAP Purple Heart Designation Washington 10/15/2024 In progress, council date TBD A.I. Policy Oro 12/3/2024 Scheduled for 10/21/2025
751
SAN FRANCISCO BAY RESTORATION AUTHORITY
CERTIFICATION OF ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS
I, Paul Johnson, Clerk of the Governing Board, certify that on June 6, 2025 the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Governing Board adopted the following resolutions:
1. American Canyon Wetlands Restoration and Public Access Project Phase II The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby authorizes the disbursement of an amount not to exceed one million two hundred thousand dollars ($1,200,000) to the City of American Canyon to complete technical studies, 60% design, California Environmental Quality Act documentation, and draft permit applications, and to conduct public outreach for the American Canyon Wetlands Restoration and Public Access Project Phase II, which will restore or enhance over 60 acres of wetlands and associated transitional habitat along the lower Napa River, improve fish passage, improve water quality, raise 1.2 miles of existing Bay Trail out of the floodplain and increase its resilience to future sea level rise, improve public safety for the trail, and build a new Bay Water Trail trailhead and associated facilities. Prior to commencement of the project, the grantee shall submit for the review and written approval of the Executive Officer of the Authority the following:
1. A detailed work program, schedule, and budget.
2. Names and qualifications of any contractors to be employed in carrying out the project.
3. A plan for acknowledgement of Authority funding.
Based on the accompanying staff report and attached exhibits, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby finds that:
1. The proposed authorization is consistent with The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act, Gov. Code Sections 66700-66706.
2. The proposed authorization is consistent with The San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure (Measure AA).
2. Mcinnis Marsh Beneficial Dredge Sediment Reuse and Tidal Wetlands Restoration The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby authorizes the disbursement of an amount not to exceed one million three hundred thousand dollars ($1,300,000) to the County of Marin (“the grantee”) to further preliminary designs, collect data and perform technical studies, prepare CEQA documents, and prepare regulatory permit applications for the McInnis Marsh Beneficial Dredge Sediment Reuse and Tidal Wetlands Restoration Project 75297
(“the project”), which will improve future tidal restoration potential of the McInnis Marsh Basin in Marin County by restoring 22 to 30 acres of diked wetlands and the reversal of subsidence across 140 acres of marsh. Prior to commencement of the project, the grantee shall submit for the review and written approval of the Executive Officer of the Authority the following:
1. A detailed work program, schedule, and budget.
2. Names and qualifications of any contractors to be employed in carrying out the project.
3. A plan for acknowledgement of Authority funding.
Based on the accompanying staff recommendation and attached exhibits, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby finds that:
1. The proposed authorization is consistent with The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act, Government Code Sections 66700-66706.
2. The proposed authorization is consistent with The San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure (Measure AA).
3. Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Restoration and Flood Management Project The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby authorizes the disbursement of an amount not to exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000) to K to College doing business as SupplyBank.org (“grantee”) to conduct the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Restoration and Flood Management Project, consisting of conducting feasibility studies and community engagement, developing designs, and preparing permit applications for restoring 25-28 acres of tidal marsh. and other shoreline habitats, updating one mile of Bay Trail, and installing nature-based flood management features at Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline in Alameda County. Prior to commencement of the project, the grantee shall submit for the review and written approval of the Executive Officer of the Authority the following:
1. A detailed work program, schedule, and budget.
2. Names and qualifications of any contractors to be employed in carrying out the project.
3. A plan for acknowledgement of Authority funding.
Based on the accompanying staff recommendation and attached exhibits, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby finds that:
1. The proposed authorization is consistent with The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act, Gov. Code Sections 66700-66706.
2. The proposed authorization is consistent with The San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure (Measure AA).
4. Community Grant: Southeast San Francisco Shoreline Stewards Project 75398
The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby authorizes the disbursement of an amount not to exceed three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) to Literacy for Environmental Justice (“the grantee”) from the Authority’s Community Grants Program to implement the Southeast San Francisco Shoreline Stewards Project, consisting of shoreline stewardship capacity building, habitat enhancement, climate adaptation planning, and workforce development in San Francisco (“the project”). Prior to commencement of the project, the grantee shall submit for the review and written approval of the Executive Officer of the Authority the following:
1. A detailed work program, schedule, and budget.
2. Names and qualifications of any contractors to be employed in carrying out the project.
3. A plan for acknowledgement of Authority funding.
4. Evidence that the grantee has entered into agreements sufficient to enable the grantee to implement, operate, and maintain the project.
5. Evidence that the grantee has all the permits and approvals required to implement the project.
Based on the accompanying staff recommendation and attached exhibits, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby finds that:
1. The proposed authorization is consistent with the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act, Government Code Sections 66700-66706.
2. The proposed authorization is consistent with the San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure (Measure AA).
5. Healing A Wounded Watershed with the Colma Creek Collective The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby authorizes the disbursement of an amount not to exceed two hundred seventy eight thousand six hundred sixty dollars ($278,660) to San Bruno Mountain Watch (“the grantee”) to implement the Healing a Wounded Watershed with the Colma Creek Collective Project in San Mateo County, consisting of community-led restoration on approximately one-quarter to one-third acre at the mouth of Colma Creek; hosting restoration education workshops, watershed field trips, and community-based shoreline restoration events; and collecting and distributing historical Colma Creek Watershed information (“the project”).
Prior to commencement of the project, the grantee shall submit for the review and written approval of the Executive Officer of the Authority the following:
1. A detailed work program, schedule, and budget.
2. Names and qualifications of any contractors to be employed in carrying out the project.
3. A plan for acknowledgement of Authority funding.
4. Evidence that all permits and approvals required to implement the project have been obtained.
5. Evidence that the grantee has entered into agreements sufficient to enable the grantee to implement, operate, and maintain the project.
Based on the accompanying staff recommendation and attached exhibits, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby finds that:
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1. The proposed authorization is consistent with the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act, Government Code Sections 66700-66706.
2. The proposed authorization is consistent with the San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure (Measure AA).
6. Alviso Shoreline Habitat Restoration
The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby authorizes the disbursement of an amount not to exceed three hundred thirty thousand seven hundred thirty dollars ($330,730) to Grassroots Ecology (“grantee”) to restore and enhance two acres of marsh-adjacent upland habitat with a focus on benefits to the burrowing owl and monarch butterfly within the Alviso district of the City of San Jose in Santa Clara County; and, through work with local community groups, to provide training, education, and workforce development as part of conducting the restoration and enhancement. Prior to commencement of the project, the grantee shall submit for the review and written approval of the Executive Officer of the Authority the following:
1. A detailed work program, schedule, and budget.
2. Names and qualifications of any contractors to be employed in carrying out the project.
3. A plan for acknowledgement of Authority funding.
4. Evidence that all permits and approvals required to implement the project have been obtained.
5. Evidence that the grantee has entered into agreements sufficient to enable the grantee to implement, operate, and maintain the project.
Based on the accompanying staff recommendation and attached exhibits, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority hereby finds that:
1. The proposed authorization is consistent with The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act, Gov. Code Sections 66700-66706.
2. The proposed authorization is consistent with The San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure (Measure AA).
3. The Authority independently reviewed and considered the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Plan Final Environmental Impact Report and Environmental Impact Statement (“FEIR/FEIS”) for the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan adopted by the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency on August 2012, pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and attached to the accompanying staff recommendation as Exhibit 4. The Authority finds that the project falls within the set of covered activities described in the FEIR/FEIS and no significant adverse impacts will result from the project.
_______________________
Paul Johnson, Clerk
San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority
100 755
_______________________
Date
6/9/2025
101 756