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REQUEST FOR <br />COUNCIL ACTION <br />CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: <br />MARCH 20, 2018 <br />TITLE: <br />AMEND AGREEMENT FOR SPECIAL LEGAL <br />COUNSEL SERVICES WITH JONES & MAYER, <br />ATTORNEYS AT LAW TO SUPPORT CODE <br />ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS <br />{STRATEGIC PLAN NO. 3, 3; 5, 4E} <br />CdX MANAGER <br />RECOMMENDED ACTION <br />CLERK OF COUNCIL USE ONLY: <br />APPROVED <br />❑ As Recommended <br />❑ As Amended <br />❑ Ordinance on 1� Reading <br />❑ Ordinance on 2nd Reading <br />❑ Implementing Resolution <br />❑ Set Public Hearing For <br />CONTINUED TO <br />FILE NUMBER <br />Authorize the City Manager and Clerk of the Council to execute an amendment to the agreement <br />with Jones & Mayer, Attorney at Law, for legal services in the area receivership based on nuisance <br />conditions resulting from operating illegal marijuana dispensaries and from health and safety <br />violations of the City's Municipal Code matters for an additional amount of $90,000 not to exceed a <br />total contracted amount of $290,000, subject to non -substantive changes approved by the City <br />Manager and City Attorney. <br />The City has utilized receivership actions under the California Health and Safety Code to <br />successfully resolve difficult code enforcement matters in both commercial and residential <br />properties. Receivership is a legal process through which control of a real property is <br />temporarily taken from the owners and placed with a court-appointed officer; the Receiver. <br />These receiverships are used for abandoned and substandard properties where the owner has <br />a history of noncompliance with the City's code enforcement efforts or, in emergency <br />situations, where the real property presents an immediate threat to health and safety. <br />The receivership option is a comprehensive process which eliminates substandard conditions <br />or uninhabitable slum -like properties and allows the referring agency, when it is the prevailing <br />party, to recuperate its enforcement costs. This process also communicates to the public that <br />the City is actively protecting residents and tenants from dangerous conditions created by <br />absentee or non-responsive property owners. <br />Beginning in 2013, the City of Santa Ana has initiated more than fifteen receivership <br />actions against dangerous and substandard properties within the City. As a result of <br />successful prosecution of these actions, the dangerous and substandard conditions on these <br />properties have been corrected. <br />On August 2, 2016, the City Council approved an Appropriation Adjustment of $100,000 to <br />the Planning and Building Agency budget for receivership activities. This item also indicated <br />2513-1 <br />