CITY OF POMONA
COUNCIL REPORT
December 4, 2023
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: James Makshanoff, City Manager
Submitted By: René Anderson, Human Resources/Risk Management Director SUBJECT: ApprovAL of amendment to the Special Legal Counsel Panel RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council take the following actions:
Approve hourly rate increase for the Law Offices of Richard Powell to $200 per hour; and Authorize the City Manager or designee to execute an updated retainer agreement with the requested firm.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Special Legal Counsel Panel is comprised of attorneys and law firms that have been selected for placement on the panel based on their respective background and qualifications in a specialty area of law, such as Workers Compensation, Police liability, dangerous condition of public property, environmental challenges, Water rights, eminent domain, and other areas as needed. The Law Office of Richard Powell has provided legal representation for the City of Pomona on Worker’s Compensation legal matters for approximately twenty years. They request an hourly rate increase from $145 per hour to $200 per hour for attorneys and $135 per hour for paralegal services.
FISCAL IMPACT: The costs for legal services have been incorporated in the adopted FY 2023-24 Self Insurance Workers Compensation Fund operational budget account 671-0000-52257-00000. There are no funding appropriation requests associated with this proposed action. The proposed hourly rate increase for the Law Offices of Richard Powell is $200 for partners and $135 for paralegals.
PREVIOUS RELATED ACTION:
November 21, 2005 - Approved Legal Counsel Referral Policy.
September 22, 2006 – Approved Special Legal Counsel Panel pursuant to the Legal Counsel Referral Policy.
November 20, 2006 – Approved addition of Davis & Associates.
November 10, 2007 – Approved addition of Byrn & Nixon; Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks & Lincenberg; Lightfood, Vandevelde, Sadowskt, Rouchley, Rutherford & Levine; Connor, Fletcher, & Williams; Jackson, DeMarco, Tidus & Peckenpaugh; Fullbright & Jawarski and Resolution Law Group..
November 17, 2008 – Approved addition of Lister, Martin & Thompson and Dorey & Horelly.
February 27, 2012 – Approved rate increase for Liebert Cassidy Whitmore (LCW) and Dapeer Rosenblit & Litvak.
July 21, 2014 – Approved addition of Lagerlof, Sencal, Gosney & Kruse, LLP and rate increase for McCune & Haber and LCW.
July 18, 2016 – Approved deletion of firms no longer used, the addition of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP and Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Rudd & Roma, and a rate increase for LCW.
March 5, 2018 - Approved the addition of the law firms of Jones and Mayer; Cooksey, Toolen, Gage, Duffy & Woog; Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley; Stradling, Yocca, Carlson & Ruth and the Law Office of Linda L. Daube and a rate increase for McCune & Harber.
May 21, 2018 – Approved the addition of Lozano Smith.
December 17, 2018 – Approved the addition of the Law Office of Robert Gokoo and a rate increase of Lagerlof, Senecal, Gosnevy & Kruse LLP.
July 15, 2019 – Approved rate increase for Liebert Cassidy Whitmore and removed Rutan and Tucker from the Panel.
May 18, 2020 – Approved addition of conflict counsel Ring Binder and Smith Law Offices LLP.
December 7, 2020 – Approved the addition of workers’ compensation insurance coverage counsel S. Henslee Smith.
November 15, 2021 – Approved the addition of Talley and Talley as legal counsel for the Pomona Police Oversight Commission and Hanson Bridget, LLC as an employment investigator and deleted workers’ compensation defense firm of Bradford and Barthel.
August 7, 2023 – Approved the addition of Hanna Brophy as Workers’ Compensation and Industrial Disability Retirement defense counsel, approved the deletion attorney Robert Gokoo from the approved panel and approved hourly rate increases for Carpenter, Rothans and Dumont, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, and McCune and Harber.
DISCUSSION: Pomona City Charter Section 703 provides that “…[t]he City Attorney shall serve as the chief legal advisor to the Council, the City Manager, and all City departments and appointed bodies, and shall have the authority to represent the City in all civil and criminal matters…” When specialized legal services are required, Pomona City Code (PCC) Section 2-993.2(7) exempts procurement of specialized legal services from the bidding process. On November 21, 2005, the City Council approved the Legal Counsel Referral Policy, which sets forth a procedure for utilizing outside counsel when expertise is required in specialized areas of law. The initial panel of attorneys and law firms was approved by the City Council in 2006 and has subsequently been updated and approved by the Council as shown above.
The Law Offices of Richard Powell has requested an hourly rate increase for attorneys from $145 per hour to $200 per hour and $135 per hour for paralegal services. Mr. Powell has not raised the hourly rate for Pomona in twenty years. Like most industries, his operating costs have increased dramatically and it is necessary for him to raise his rates. Notably, even with this rate increase, the new rate of $200 per hour is still the lowest rate charged by any other attorney or firm the City utilizes.
Approval of the proposed action will grant a rate increase to $200 maximum per hour for the Law Offices of Richard Powell.
Prepared by: Chris Millard, Risk Manager
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment No. 1 – Updated Special Legal Counsel Panel
Amendment to Special Legal Counsel Panel