BOARD MEETING
DATE: January 12, 1996
AGENDA NO. 8
PROPOSAL: Amend the Agreement for Employee Relations Litigation and Negotiation Services
SYNOPSIS: This recommendation is to amend the Goldstein, Kennedy & Petito contract to add an amount not to exceed $200,000 to cover extraordinary litigation expenses involving ongoing lawsuits, legal challenges relating to the June 30, 1994, layoffs and reductions in classifications, and contract negotiation impasse resolution.
COMMITTEE: Administrative, December 15, 1995
RECOMMENDED ACTION
1. Authorize the Chairman to execute an amendment to the contract with the law firm of Goldstein, Kennedy & Petito adding an amount not to exceed $200,000.
James M. Lents, Ph.D.
Executive Officer
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Background
On December 7, 1995, the Board approved amending the Goldstein, Kennedy, & Petito contract by an additional $64,667 to cover legal expenses relating primarily to three ongoing lawsuits. This action had no direct resource impact since the funds were available in the District General Account for legal services. In the December Board letter recommending this increase, it was noted that, based on current expenditures of approximately $50,000 per month, staff intended to come back to the Board in January, following the required 30-day public notification period of a proposed supplement to the Fiscal Year 1995-96 budget, to recommend an additional increase of $300,000 in the Goldstein, Kennedy & Petito contract. Because of a recent favorable court decision in a lawsuit being handled by Goldstein, Kennedy & Petito, costs are now estimated to be somewhat less than previously anticipated, and the request has been reduced to an amount not to exceed $200,000.
As noted in the December Board letter, the increase to the contract is needed to cover extraordinary litigation activity relating primarily to ongoing lawsuits, to legal challenges to the AQMD relating to the June 30, 1994, layoffs and reductions in classification that attempt to reverse these actions, to pending arbitration hearings regarding layoffs and reductions, and to ongoing labor negotiations with two unions, which are currently in mediation. 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. The AQMD's three-year employee relations legal services contract reflected an expectation that costs would likely be highest during the contract's first year. Much of the costly counsel-intensive activity that has occurred since the beginning of this fiscal year was unanticipated.
Resource Impacts
Staff recommends $200,000 from the Undesignated Fund Balance be appropriated to the District General Professional and Specialized Services Account for the purpose of amending the contract with the Goldstein, Kennedy & Petito law firm by an amount not to exceed $200,000 to cover extraordinary litigation expenses. Since this litigation may not be concluded by the end of this fiscal year, any amount that remains will be carried forward to next fiscal year.
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