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REQUEST FOR <br />COUNCIL ACTION <br />CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: <br />APRIL 5, 2010 <br />TITLE: <br />LEGAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH <br />THE SOHAGI LAW GROUP <br />CITY MANAGER <br />RECOMMENDED ACTION <br />CLERK OF COUNCIL USE ONLY: <br />.... enww, <br />❑ As Recommended <br />❑ As Amended <br />❑ Ordinance on Vt Reading <br />❑ Ordinance on 2nd Reading <br />❑ Implementing Resolution <br />❑ Set Public Hearing For_ <br />CONTINUED TO <br />FILE NUMBER <br />Direct the City Attorney to prepare and authorize the City Manager and <br />Clerk of the Council to execute a legal services agreement with the <br />Sohagi Law Group. <br />DISCUSSION <br />The City Attorney's Office provides legal services to the City, its <br />officials and employees, and related entities such as the Redevelopment <br />Agency and the Housing authority primarily through staff attorneys. <br />However, it is sometimes necessary to retain outside counsel for <br />specialized fields of practice and matters that have extraordinary <br />staffing requirements. <br />Due to a number of pending legally complex and time consuming development <br />matters, including the Transit Zoning Code and EIR, the related <br />Redevelopment Agency affordable housing project in the Lacy Neighborhood, <br />and the Go -Local transportation studies, there is a need to retain <br />attorneys with specialized skills in the areas of land use, zoning and <br />environmental law. The Sohagi Law Group, headed by Margaret Sohagi, is a <br />renowned public agency firm with the resources and skills to assist the <br />City Attorney's Office and City and Redevelopment Agency staffs to <br />prepare the highest quality work products within the restrictive time <br />schedule that the projects have imposed that will best protect the City's <br />legal interests. <br />25H -1 <br />