For the second time in six months the City Council has agreed to
pay City Attorney Helene Leichter in return for a promise not to
sue the city. The two settlements total more than $258,000. In the
latest settlement, which includes Leichter
’s resignation effective July 1, the council has agreed to pay
her $233,055.80.
For the second time in six months the City Council has agreed to pay City Attorney Helene Leichter in return for a promise not to sue the city. The two settlements total more than $258,000.
In the latest settlement, which includes Leichter’s resignation effective July 1, the council has agreed to pay her $233,055.80. The earlier agreement, made in September 2004, required the city to pay Leichter $25,000 and her attorney $15,000.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy said at Wednesday’s council meeting that neither Leichter nor city officials would have anything more to say about the agreement. He described the parting as “amicable.”
Mary Wright, an attorney with the San Francisco law firm of Carroll, Burdick and McDonough and who represented Leichter, said neither she nor her client could comment.
“We cannot comment on the settlement agreement or any circumstances giving rise to the settlement agreement,” Wright said Thursday.
The 17-page settlement calls for the city to pay Leichter $233,055.80. Of this, $53,750 covers Leichter’s salary and benefits to July 1, $18,055.80 for accrued vacation to July 1 (at $70.73 per hour) and $161,250 “in compensation for alleged physical injury or sickness.” The agreement does not list any description of what the injury or sickness might be.
City Manager Ed Tewes said the $161,250 would come from the city’s self-insurance fund. He declined further comment about the settlement.
Leichter’s current contract was to have been in effect until Sept. 1, 2005. Although Leichter will remain on the city payroll through July 1, she has been “relieved of all job responsibilities and authority effective” April 20, according to the agreement. She has agreed to give the city a status report of all pending legal matters and make herself reasonably available for consultation with the acting city attorney
Kennedy and Councilman Steve Tate negotiated the agreement with Leichter; Tate said he couldn’t say how long the negotiations had taken place.
Leichter has been on paid leave twice since a scheduled performance review with the council on Feb. 2. She briefly returned to attend a council meeting on March 22, but returned to leave shortly afterward. No one on the council or at City Hall, nor Leichter herself, would comment on why she went on leave.
Tate said he had no comment on the settlement. He acknowledged that the settlement’s pricetag would make council’s job more difficult in putting together a budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.
“Obviously we are really hurting on our budget,” Tate said. “The council is working very hard to solve the budget problem and don’t need more expenses.”
Councilman Greg Sellers on Friday noted that personnel issues at times become budget issues.
“It’s something any organization has to deal with occasionally,” Sellers said. “Dealing with personnel issues the right way often is costly. To not do it properly would be even more costly.”
Neither Kennedy, nor councilmen Larry Carr or Mark Grzan returned calls by press time seeking comment on the settlement or impact on the budget.
In Wednesday’s settlement, the city denies any wrongful action and Leichter agrees not to sue them except under a worker’s compensation claim.
She releases the city from any claims that she was retaliated against or sexually harassed while employed, even if new details should come to light. The city also releases Leichter from charges or claims and agrees to defend her against any claim made against her work. No details were listed.
Leichter has seven days from April 20 to sign the agreement, waiving her right to the more usual 21-day wait period, according to the agreement.
Only Mayor Kennedy will respond to future requests for employment verification on Leichter’s behalf and will release only dates of employment, final salary and that she voluntarily resigned her position.
The September 2004 agreement allowed Leichter to work from home two days a week through the end of the year and to take an additional seven weeks’ vacation.
That money was in compensation “for emotional distress and physical injury.” No details were given on what that physical injury might include.
Leichter agreed at that time not to sue the city over the city’s handling of an accusation of impropriety made against her by former Councilwoman Hedy Chang. The accusation was that she had had an affair with City Manager Ed Tewes.
Both Leichter and Tewes have consistently denied the allegation.
During Leichter’s many-week leave and extra vacation since September, the law firm of Jorgenson, McClure, Siegel filled in as acting city attorney and also represented the city in a land use matter involving Howard Vierra and a proposed development on the lower slopes of El Toro Mountain.
Kennedy said the firm had been paid $20,000 budgeted for its legal work. Council approved a new contract on Wednesday for an additional $37,000.
Legal fees and costs for January through March reached $27,000; the Vierra lawsuit is expected to generate costs of $10,000.
City Human Resources Director Mary Kaye Fisher said council has not yet asked her to begin a search for a new city attorney.
Local attorney Bruce Tichinin, who represents Vierra and has battled with Leichter in the past, reacted strongly to the council paying Leichter not to sue the city.
“It’s an atrocity. It is the sworn professional duty of an attorney to defend his client’s financial interest at every peril to himself or herself,” Tichinin said. “The taxpayers are well rid of her.”
Tichinin said he doesn’t understand why the $161,250 settlement was necessary since any pain and suffering from the claims of the alleged affair were covered in the September payoff. Leichter’s annual salary is $137,350 plus $400 a month car allowance and other benefits. She also earned three weeks of vacation and 80 hours of administrative leave to make up for working frequently outside of normal business hours. She was hired Sept. 1, 2000, as city attorney.
Leichter was born in Fresno, received her undergraduate degree from Stanford and her law degree from Santa Clara University.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
