To: The Board of Supervisors of Sonoma County
Department or Agency Name(s): County Counsel
Staff Name and Phone Number: Elizabeth Coleman, Deputy County Counsel, 707-565-2421
Vote Requirement: 4/5th
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Legal Services Agreement with Renne Public Law Group for Conflict Counsel Services
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Authorize and Direct County Counsel to Enter into Legal Services Agreement with Renne Public Law Group for a Contract Amount not to Exceed $150,000 for FY 2024-2025 .
(4/5th Vote Required)
end
Executive Summary:
This item requests authority for County Counsel to enter into a legal services agreement with Renne Public Law Group, for an amount not to exceed $150,000 for FY 2024-2025.
Discussion:
County Counsel provides legal representation, advice and counsel to the County, its governing Board of Supervisors, County Departments, special districts, and other public agencies, as mandated and authorized by California statutes and local ordinances. From time to time, the County has retained various outside law firms to represent the County in a variety of legal matters. Outside law firms are retained only when County Counsel either does not have the capacity, lacks the expertise to handle these lawsuits in-house, or has an ethical conflict. These law firms are assigned cases based upon their proven legal ability and specific experience with public entity representation.
County Counsel is unable to represent two entities or where the proper representation of both would be impossible on the basis that their legal interests diverge. In such circumstances, outside counsel will be contracted to avoid the conflict. Here, County Counsel contacted several firms with expertise in the areas of law required for the representation of the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach (IOLERO), and in consultation with IOLERO, contracted with Renne Public Law Group to provide conflict counsel services to IOLERO in the amount of $50,000 per year with a three-year contract term, which firm is part of the competitively selected pool of outside law firm already in use by the County pursuant to a competitive process . This item requests Board authority to enter into a revised agreement to increase the contract amount to $150,000. No budgetary changes are required by this action, as the funds necessary have been allocated in the FY 2024-2025 budget. To the extent services will be performed under the contract after the end of FY 2024-2025, such expenditures will be budgeted in the appropriate fiscal year.
Based on the forgoing, this item requests the Board of Supervisors authorize and Direct County Counsel to finalize and enter into a legal services agreement with Renne Public Law Group for conflict counsel services.
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
N/A
Prior Board Actions:
None
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY24-25 Adopted |
FY25-26 Projected |
FY26-27 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$150,000.00 |
$0.00 |
|
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
|
|
Total Expenditures |
|
|
|
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
$150,000.00 |
|
|
|
State/Federal |
|
|
|
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
General Fund Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$150,000.00 |
|
|
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
No budget impacts are implicated by this action because funds for such have been allocated in the FY 2024-2025 budget. To the extent contract services will performed in later fiscal years pursuant to this agreement, such shall be budgeted at that time.
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
Contract
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None.