Foster Garvey On-Call Legal Services Contract
At a glance
Based on auto-generated captions; names, numbers and details may be misheard.
- What: An engagement letter with the Foster Garvey law firm for continued representation in a superior court matter (captioned "plausible products") plus on-call outside counsel services, supporting the city's in-house city attorney office.
- Where it stands: the committee gave direction on 2026-10-13 to place the contract on the November 2 consent agenda. No vote was taken in committee.
- Next: staff to send a not-to-exceed or budget figure and written examples of on-call use before November 2; councilmembers may still pull the item from consent.
Why it is before council
- Rebecca Mueller (city attorney) explained that the municipal code lets council employ additional counsel, and the purchasing policy sends professional services contracts over $50,000 to council.
- The lead attorney on the case was brought on through a sole-source justification because of expertise on the legal issues, experience with the city and upcoming deadlines (name as captioned; not recorded here).
- The expanded scope lets the city engage outside counsel quickly on a new lawsuit without an RFP.
Councilmember questions
- Forsythe: the memo had no budget impact; she wants a cap in the memo that returns. Mueller said she can provide one but costs are hard to anticipate and case questions are best in executive session.
- Soni: how council learns of other projects the firm takes on. Mueller: litigation matters can be notified; routine on-call advice would not be reported.
- Prakriya: current on-call services and non-police examples. Mueller listed firms for the former outside city attorney role, employment matters and police matters, and promised written follow-up.
- Stuart: praised the clarity of the letter and suggested a 2027 committee session on which services the office has established and which on-call areas remain.
Sources
Discussion time
About 11 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).
| Meeting | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-13 - Committee of the Whole | 11 |
Log
- 2026-10-13 - Committee of the Whole — Mueller presented the engagement letter; direction to place it on the November 2 consent agenda, with a cost cap or budget figure and written examples to follow.
- 2026-11-02 - City Council Special Meeting - Foster & Garvey on-call legal services on the agenda; vote not yet recorded.