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 Meyers Nave
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Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Delegate authority to the County Counsel to execute the proposed Legal Services Agreement with Meyers Nave, for a three-year term and in an amount not to exceed $350,000.
(4/5th Vote Required)
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Executive Summary:
This item requests authority for County Counsel to enter into a legal services agreement with Meyers Nave for the firm to provide specialized legal services, in a total amount not to exceed $350,000 for a three-year contract term.
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 retained based upon their proven legal ability and specific experience with public entity representation.
Using existing delegated authority, the outside law firm of Meyers Nave was previously retained by County Counsel for various as-needed services.
Meyers Nave are specialists in public agency representation on topics of complex real property and construction transactions and have recently provided high-level expert advice on transactional and litigation matters.
Several significant County projects and matters now require specialized expertise such as that offered by Meyers Nave. However, estimated costs on those items are expected to exceed the limits under the existing Meyers Nave legal services agreement. This item requests Board authority to enter into a new legal services agreement (LSA) to cover those expected needs. .
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 Meyers Nave for expert outside counsel services.
Pursuant to Government Code section 25203, employment of any outside legal counsel requires a two-thirds (i.e., 4/5ths) vote of your Board.
Strategic Plan:
N/A
Racial Equity:
Was this item identified as an opportunity to apply the Racial Equity Toolkit?
No
Prior Board Actions:
None
Fiscal Summary
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FY25-26 Adopted |
FY26-27 Projected |
FY27-28 Projected |
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Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
With respect to fiscal year FY 2026-2027, items to be covered under the new LSA are reflected in existing project budgets of the departments on behalf of which Meyers Nave will perform services. To the extent services will be performed under the LSA after the end of FY 2026-2027, such expenditures will be budgeted in the appropriate fiscal year.
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Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
Legal Services Agreement with Meyers Nave
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
N/A