BOARD MEETING DATE: December 8, 1995
AGENDA NO.
SYNOPSIS: This recommendation is to amend the amount of the Goldstein, Kennedy & Petito contract by an additional $64,667 for extraordinary litigation expenses involving lawsuits arising from cases alleging discrimination.
COMMITTEE: Administrative, November 16, 1995
RECOMMENDED ACTION
1. Authorize the Chairman to execute an amendment to the contract with the law firm of Goldstein, Kennedy & Petito in the amount of $64,667 for FY 1995-96.
James M. Lents, Ph.D.
Executive Officer
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Background
The Goldstein, Kennedy & Petito law firm's current fiscal year contract amount of $185,333 is expected to be expended by approximately the end of November. This is largely the result of extraordinary litigation activity relating primarily to three ongoing lawsuits which, for the first quarter of the fiscal year have resulted in legal costs of $111,918.30.
In addition, significant costs have been incurred as a result of legal challenges to the AQMD relating to the June 30, 1994, layoffs and reductions in classification. Since the beginning of the fiscal year the AQMD has been served two lawsuits, one filed by sixteen plaintiffs affected by layoffs and reductions and the other filed by the San Bernardino Public Employees Association, the union representing the AQMD's professional bargaining unit. Both suits are attempts to reverse the layoffs and reductions and both have required and will continue to require considerable time and effort on the part of legal counsel. The costs of these actions have been high in part because of the short time frames for the AQMD's legal counsel to file responses and the need for aggressively litigating these matters to defend the AQMD against very costly consequences. Although the AQMD's three-year employee relations legal services contract recognized costs likely would be highest during the contract's first year, much of the costly counsel-intensive activity that has occurred since the beginning of the fiscal year was unanticipated.
From the beginning of the fiscal year through the end of October, the following amounts have been expended:
Ongoing lawsuits $111,918.30 EEOC investigations 1,700.00 Grievances and other activity 26,102.07 Total $139,720.37
In addition to costs which have already been incurred, the AQMD anticipates an unusually high level of legal activity resulting in a significant increase in legal costs during the remainder of the fiscal year, largely as a consequence of the layoff grievances and ongoing labor negotiations, which currently are at impasse. In particular, we anticipate actions of the San Bernardino Public Employees Association will call for continued intensive legal defense of AQMD actions. In addition, we anticipate an increase in legal costs due to pending arbitration hearings involving the Federation of Public Sector Workers, the union representing the Office Clerical and Maintenance and Technical and Enforcement bargaining units. Again, these high costs, especially those relating to recent lawsuits filed on behalf of employees who were laid off or reduced in classification, were unforeseen, and, consequently, were not included in the current budget.
Resource Impacts
There are no direct resource impacts relating to the current recommendation since the contract increase amount of $64,667 currently is available in the District General Account for legal services. However, other extraordinary legal expenses described above are expected to cost up to an additional $300,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year, based on current expenditures of approximately $50,000 per month. Therefore, following the required 30-day public notification period of a proposed supplement to the FY 1995-96 budget, staff intends to recommend at the January 1996 Board meeting an additional increase of $300,000 in the Goldstein, Kennedy & Petito contract.
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