From: herb
To: Council, City; Clerk, City
Subject: December 15, 2025 City Council Meeting, Agenda Item #5: Appointment of Interim City Attorney Date: Sunday, December 14, 2025 5:14:51 PM
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DECEMBER 15, 2025 CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA ITEM #5: APPOINTING CAIO ARELLANO AS INTERIM CITY
ATTORNEY
I urge you to remove this item from your Consent Agenda and refer the item of appointment of an Interim City Attorney to the Council Appointed Officers (CAO) Committee.
Neither the Human Resources Director who reports to the City Manager, or Council Member Greer Stone who happens to be Chair of the Council CAO Committee have been authorized by the City Council or the CAO Committee to recommend the appointment of an Interim City Attorney.
The "City Council Procedures and Protocols Handbook" says "The CAO Committee meets on an as-needed basis schedule to address issues that Council has referred to the Committee related to Council's four direct appointees: the City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk and City Auditor."
For example, the Council referred to the CAO Committee the subject of recruitment for a new City Attorney, and the CAO Committee delegated to the CAO Chair the task of determining the interview process for that position.
The City Council has never referred the subject of Appointing an Interim City Attorney to the CAO Committee, so that
Committee could not authorize the Committee Chair to act for it on that subject.
For example, after former City Attorney Ariel Calonne announced his decision to leave, the City Council on August 4, 2003 met in Closed Session to consider Public Employee Performance Evaluation of the four CAOs including Calonne, and also to consider the Public Employee Appointment of an Interim City Attorney.
When that Closed Session ended, Mayor Dena Mossar announced that "the Council voted unanimously that upon resignation of the City Attorney, to appoint Wynne Furth as the Interim City Attorney, and the Mayor to appoint two or more Council Members to negotiate with Wynee Furth the terms of her contract." Until such time as the CAO Committee makes a recommendation about the appointment of an Interim City Attorney and the City Council acts on that recommendation, the Chief Assistant City Attorney will exercise his essential duty to "Act in the absence of the City Attorney" as set forth in the Job
Description of the Chief Assistant City Attorney's Essential Duties on the Human Resources Department website.
Thank you for your consideration of these comments.
Herb Borock