Title
County Counsel recommending the Board approve without change the previously-adopted billing rates for County Counsel attorneys to invoice outside entities for recovery of costs incurred in defending the County from challenges to development project approvals.
FUNDING: Reimbursement to County.
Body
DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION
County Counsel recommending the Board approve without change the previously-adopted billing rates for County Counsel attorneys to invoice outside entities. This recommendation will allow County Counsel to continue to recover its costs incurred in defending the County from challenges to development project approvals and, by utilizing a blended rate schedule, will streamline the process for recovery of such costs.
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
On April 25, 2017, the Board of Supervisors approved Resolution No. 069-2017, which established billing rates to be charged by the County Counsel’s office to outside entities with an obligation to defend and indemnify the County. At the time the Board of Supervisors approved that resolution, we indicated that, as a result of potential cost changes from year-to-year, we would bring these rates to the Board of Supervisors for approval each year after the internal billing rates have been determined and approved by the Auditor’s office. Although we are not proposing any changes in these billing rates, we are bringing this matter back to the Board of Supervisors for your continued review and approval.
To provide additional background on this matter, a standard condition of approval imposed on development projects requires the developer to defend and indemnify the County for any actions challenging the County’s approval of the project. In the past, if a project approval was challenged, the County would tender the defense of the action to the developer and, upon the developer’s acceptance of the defense, retain outside counsel to represent the County’s interests in the action. In some circumstances, wh...
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