City of Huntington Beach, California
CHIEF ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY
Recruitment Services Provided By
The Opportunity
The City of Huntington Beach offers a truly
unique opportunity for experienced California
municipal attorneys. As one of the few cities
with an elected City Attorney, the Chief Assistant
serves an oversized role, with a great deal of
autonomy and prestige but without the negative
aspects of the top spot. Additionally, the next
Chief Assistant will have the opportunity to be
part of a City that is leading the way in its effort to protect its local control.
The City of Huntington Beach is in northwestern Orange
County 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles and 90 miles
northwest of San Diego. The City encompasses 28 square
miles of land and 26 square miles of water, making it the 24th largest city in California. With a population of about 202,265 residents, Huntington Beach is the fourth largest populous city in Orange County.
Known as “Surf City USA,” Huntington Beach features nearly
8.5 miles of spacious beaches and hosts an annual visitor population of over 11 million people, especially during the summer, and features numerous large-scale special
events, surf competitions and festivals. Even with its swell of visitors, Huntington Beach has been listed for decades as among the FBl’s safest cities in the nation. In 2022, WalletHub ranked the City of Huntington Beach #1 in the nation for quality of services to residents. Huntington Beach also consistently ranks near the top of WalletHub’s annual rankings of the happiest cities in the country.
Huntington Beach is home to a thriving beach community
and is consistently named as one of the top ten beaches in California. The City has one of the largest recreational piers in the world and has the longest concrete pier in California.
Running parallel to the Pacific Coast Highway and just steps from the ocean is a ten-mile strand perfect for biking, inline skating, jogging, or a leisurely stroll.
Huntington Beach boasts a wide variety of municipal ame- nities. It has a world-class Central Library with four branch libraries. The City’s park system includes 79 public parks The City Of Huntington Beach
(including a dog park), riding stables, and the largest city- owned and operated regional park in Orange County - the 356-acre Huntington Central Park. Residents enjoy five
recreation centers (including a senior center), three miles of equestrian trails, two golf courses, 72 tennis courts, a marina, and a protected wildlife preserve. Huntington Beach draws some of the largest crowds in the world for its popular events, including the U.S. Open of surfing, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball, the Surf City Marathon, and the Pacific Air Show. It’s also home to the International Surfing Museum, the Surfing Walk of Fame, the Surfing Hall of Fame, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, and the Huntington Beach Art Center.
The community’s 35 elementary schools and five public
high schools frequently receive local, state, and federal awards and honors, including recognition as California
Distinguished Schools and National Blue Ribbon Schools.
Golden West College, a community college, is also
located in the city. Orange Coast College; the University of California, Irvine and California State Universities at Long Beach and Fullerton also provide convenient proximity to higher education. Huntington Beach is an extremely diver- sified business community. No single business or industry dominates the local economy, which supports leading
commercial, industrial, and recreational industries ranging from tourism and leisure to aerospace, high technology, and advanced manufacturing.
To learn more about the City of Huntington Beach, please visit www.huntingtonbeachca.gov.
Huntington Beach was incorporated as a Charter City in 1909 and operates under the Council/Manager form of govern-
ment. A seven-member City Council serves as the governing body. Members are elected at-large to four-year overlapping terms. City Council members are limited to two consecutive terms. The City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Treasurer are also elected and serve four-year terms. The Mayor and
Mayor Pro-Tern roles are designated on an annual rotating basis.
The City’s 12 major departments include the City Attorney, City Clerk, City Treasurer, City Manager, Community
Development, Community & Library Services, Finance, Fire, Human Resources, Information Services, Police, and Public Works. The City is supported by 989.75 FTE, approximately 500 part-time employees, and a General Fund budget of
$269 million ($532 million all funds). Huntington Beach main- tains an AAA credit rating by Fitch.
Organizational Culture: The OneHB Mission
• One Team: We are one team working together to serve
the people of Huntington Beach exceptionally to inspire pride in our community.
• One Focus: We have one focus ... to stay fanatical about achieving municipal excellence by being active caretak- ers of our unique, people-centric HB culture.
• One Goal: We have one goal ... to ensure that HB continu- ally improves its standing as a premier coastal community as measured through the health of our people, our orga- nization, our infrastructure, and our community.
City Government
The mission of the Huntington Beach City Attorney’s Office is to provide the best representation to the City in all legal matters and before administrative bodies, and to provide excellent, effective legal counsel and services to the City Council and to all officers of the City, and provide superior representa- tion for the City in court litigation and prosecutions on behalf of the people for violations of the City Charter and Municipal Code.
The Office of the City Attorney represents and advises the City Council and all City officials on matters of law pertaining to the business of the City of Huntington Beach. Among other things, the City Attorney prepares and/ or reviews all City ordinances, resolutions, contracts, and other legal doc- uments; and attends City Council, Planning Commission, City Staff and other meetings. The City Attorney also prosecutes on behalf of the people criminal cases arising from violation of the provisions of the City Charter or Huntington Beach Municipal Code, and such state misdemeanors as the City has the power to prosecute. This office also administers the Administrative Citation Program.
The City Attorney’s Office consists of an elected City Attorney, a Chief Assistant City Attorney, two Assistant City Attorneys, two Sr. Deputy City Attorneys, a Deputy City Attorney, and four support staff. The City Attorney’s Office has two divisions: Litigation Services and Municipal Services.
The City Attorney’s Office
By charter, the voters of Huntington Beach elect a City Attorney who provides overall leadership of the City
Attorney’s Office. The Chief Assistant assists the City Attorney in supervising and overseeing the operations
of the City Attorney’s office. In the absence of the City Attorney, the Chief Assistant assumes all the responsibilities of the City Attorney, including advising City Council and City Administration.
Key responsibilities include:
• Assisting the City Attorney in administering the City’s legal functions
• Serving as senior counsel in providing advice to, and on behalf of, the City in matters of municipal and state law. • Oversee transactional law matters for the City Council and city operational departments.
• Analyzing and researching legal problems, preparing
opinions, conferring with and advising City officials, staff, departments, advisory bodies and commissions on legal
questions pertaining to their respective powers, duties functions and obligations
• Monitoring proposed legislation and court decisions
related to municipal law and activities, as well as evalu- ating the impact to City operations
The Position
• Supervising pr ofessional and support staff, providing and coordinating staff training, working with employees to correct deficiencies, and implementing disciplinary
actions
•
Implemen
ting cost control procedures for outside coun-
sel and monitoring legal department contracts for com-
pliance
•
P
erforming the duties of the City Attorney in the absence of the City Attorney
• M
aintaining effective and extensive professional rela-
tionships with representatives of other local, state, and federal agencies
•
P
erforming other such legal duties consistent with the
City Charter as may be required by the City Council
The Chief Assistant City Attorney for the City of Huntington Beach must be a solid municipal attorney, ideally with the following characteristics and experience:
• Significant municipal law experience, with an emphasis on experience with land use matters.
• The City Attorney is seeking candidates who have a
strong problem-solving approach, and an innate curi-
osity to explore alternative avenues to accomplish the
City’s policy goals. Experience gained in charter cities is particularly valuable in this regard, as the City is keenly interested in exerting its local control.
• The staff in the City Attorney’s Office are excellent, and the next Chief Assistant should continue the track record of providing effective and supportive leadership in an
easygoing and collegial environment.
• The best candidates will place a high priority on ensur- ing that the high-quality work of the office is delivered in a very responsive manner.
• The City Attorney seeks a Chief Assistant that can assess risk across multiple potential courses of action and
help others arrive at decisions that are sound and in
the best interest of the City. This includes encouraging open-mindedness toward unpopular alternatives or
spotlighting risk associated with popular ones.
The Ideal Candidate
Any combination of training and experience, which would provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qual- ifying. A typical way to obtain the required qualifications would be:
Education: Graduation from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association with a Juris Doctorate degree.
Experience: Five years of increasingly responsible expe- rience in city or related government law, and two years of administrative or supervisory responsibility.
License/Certification: Active membership in the State Bar of California.
Qualifications
The annual salary range for the Chief Assistant City
Attorney is up to $220,272. The City will negotiate
an employment agreement with the selected
candidate which will include a salary and benefits
package that is considerate of the selected candi-
date’s qualifications and experience.
Compensation
& Benefits
Interested candidates should apply immediately, as this recruitment may close early once a sufficiently strong
candidate pool has been established.
This recruitment will be handled with strict confidentiality.
References will not be contacted until mutual interest has been established. Confidential inquiries are welcomed to Greg Nelson or Bryan Noblett at (916) 550-4100.
Interested candidates are encouraged to apply online at mosaicpublic.com/careers.
The City of Huntington Beach is an Equal Opportunity
Employer.
The Recruitment
Process