City Council Memorandum
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DATE: JUNE 9, 2026 FROM: CITY ATTORNEY WARDS: ALL
SUBJECT: OUTSIDE COUNSEL EXPENDITURE REPORT
ISSUE:
To receive and review the City’s Outside Counsel Expenditure Reports for the period of July 1, 2025 - September 30, 2025, and for the period of October 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025, as provided in the City’s Outside Counsel Policy approved by City Council on June 16, 2015.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council receive and file the attached report.
BACKGROUND:
In order to increase transparency and accountability, in 2015, City Council approved the City Attorney’s recommendation of reporting the City’s outside counsel expenditures. This report includes expenditures for the period of July 1, 2025, through September 30, 2025, and for the period of October 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025, as well as the total amounts paid to each law firm for each matter from inception.
As of FY 2024/25, this report now includes all outside counsel engagements, including those requested by other departments, such as Human Resources, Finance, and the City Manager’s Office. For example, the City Manager’s Office requested the retention of outside counsel for several public/private partnership projects including the ASR and AB Brown development projects. Although the City initially paid the outside counsel bills for these projects, outside counsel fees after the Exclusive Negotiating Agreements (ENA) were signed are recoverable from the developer’s deposit. Although the City has requested reimbursement from the developer’s deposit account, Finance advised CEDD that the developer’s deposit needs to be replenished in order to have outside counsel’s fees reimbursed per the terms of the ENAs.
FISCAL IMPACT:
FY 20/21
QTR 1
QTR 2
QTR 3
QTR 4
TOTAL
687,692
1,002,666
893,398
628,463
$3,212,219
FY 21/22
QTR 1
QTR 2
QTR 3
QTR 4
TOTAL
857,745
553,639.77
398,734.57
175,471.02
$1,985,590.36
FY 22/23
QTR 1
QTR 2
QTR 3
QTR 4
TOTAL
218,981.21
235,101.47
264,445.61
308,380.88
$1,026,909.17
FY 23/24
QTR 1
QTR 2
QTR 3
QTR 4
TOTAL
316,770.19
287,910.61
305,075.47
328,466.10
$1,238,222.37
FY 24/25
QTR 1
QTR 2
QTR 3
QTR 4
TOTAL
439,052.48
557,091.27
636,242.38
443,781.09
$2,076,167.22
FY 25/26
QTR 1
QTR 2
QTR 3
QTR 4
TOTAL
383,801.19
374,271.87
-
-
$758,073.06
Prepared by: Rebecca McKee-Reimbold, Interim City Attorney Attachments:
Outside Counsel Expenditure Report FY 2025/26 1st Quarter Outside Counsel Expenditure Report FY 2025/26 2nd Quarter