No lawsuits have been filed during the three years the city has
retained a Santa Barbara law firm to represent it on perchlorate
cleanup matters.
MORGAN HILL
No lawsuits have been filed during the three years the city has retained a Santa Barbara law firm to represent it on perchlorate cleanup matters.
Still, the law firm of Hatch and Parent has billed the city more than $500,000 since 2004, according to Morgan Hill City Attorney Janet Kern.
And the billing keeps going up. The city council on Nov. 28 unanimously approved amending the contract with Hatch and Parent to authorize spending up to an additional $75,000 through June 2008. With the city having paid out more than half a million so far, the allocation means Hatch and Parent can bill the city up to $650,000 more through that time period, Kern said. The funds come from the city’s water operations fund, Kern wrote in a report submitted to the council Nov. 28.
City officials say hiring a skilled outside attorney was required to represent city interests in the long run before other agencies, and potentially, in court. City Manager Ed Tewes said the perchlorate cleanup was a “highly legalistic and adversarial process” that required hiring “lawyers skilled in water law.” Councilman Mark Grzan said the city has considered filing a lawsuit in the past and needed an expert.
Citing attorney-client privilege, Kern declined to comment about the city’s legal strategy.
Hatch and Parent lawyers prepared a 28-page response to a draft of the cleanup order that outlines how Olin Corp., the road flare manufacturer responsible for the perchlorate plume that in the groundwater below Morgan Hill and Gilroy, is to proceed with cleanup. The response was longer than responses and comments from other stakeholders, including the city of Gilroy, whose administrator Jay Baksa submitted a two-page letter. He wasn’t immediately available for comment.
The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is expected to approve the draft at its regular meeting today in San Luis Obispo.
Although Kern joined the city after the Hatch and Parent contract was signed in September 2004, she said the work its lawyers have done couldn’t be done in-house. As a “generalist” who deals with everyday legal city matters, she has neither time nor expertise in water law, she said.
The city made “a good hire,” Kern said.
Susan Siravo, the spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District, said attorneys with the multi-national law firm of Bingham McCutchen represented the district’s interests. She couldn’t release the billing information because it is confidential, she said.
A representative for Olin Corp. wasn’t immediately available for comment.
PERCHLORATE DECISION
What: Regular meeting, Central Coast Water Quality Control Board
When: 10:30 a.m. or later, today
Where: Board office, 895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101, San Luis Obispo, Calif. 93401
Why: The seven-member panel of the CCWQCB is expected to discuss and approve the latest draft of a cleanup and abatement order that outlines steps and sets deadlines for Olin Corp. to begin perchlorate removal from the area groundwater.
