Budget for Legal Services - $643,750.00?
The budget for legal services for the tiny City of Sebastopol is 643,750. We pay our city attorney $140,000.00.
So, there is more than a half a million dollars for other legal services, which we have been paying out for a number of years.
I’m sure most taxpayers in the city would like to know where that money is going – I would.
I would also like to see a report to the City Council from our city attorney on the actions he has taken in the past year.
1. What has he done to bring costly litigation to a close?
2. What policy recommendations has he made to prevent future litigation?
Legal risks:
The situation at Elderberry Commons is out of control – and it has just begun. It is unconscionable that a child (or anyone) is made to live in emotionally abusive and frightening conditions.
The city has been made aware of the needle exchange and the possible problems that it is causing.
The City is putting itself in a precarious position allowing these programs to exist in the City of Sebastopol without trying to DO something about them. The taxpayers are being set up for yet another lawsuit as soon as the inevitable happens.
The city continues to have a weak rational for taking rate payer water and wastewater fees and showing it as revenue to the general fund.
Ratepayers are only supposed to be paying for the cost of the services provided – the rest is a violation of proposition 218.