CHULA VISTA HIRES OUTSIDE FIRM FOR LEGAL SERVICES

Move is temporary until next elected city attorney

The Chula Vista City Council has hired an outside municipal law firm to provide temporary services until the next elected city attorney takes the oath of office.

Lounsbery Ferguson Altona and Peak, LLP was unanimously awarded a contract not to exceed $350,000. The agreement took effect Feb. 22 and will end when an official is sworn in for the post following a special election in November.

Jill Maland, an attorney with the firm who previously worked in the Chula Vista City Attorney’s Office, was selected to serve as the “acting” city attorney. She replaces Glen Googins, who has accepted a job in Silicon Valley.

Chula Vista solicited proposals from five local, municipal law firms: Lounsbery Ferguson Altona and Peak; Mcdougal Boehmer Foley Lyon Mitchell and Erickson; Burke, Williams and Sorenson; Best, Best and Krieger; and Rutan and Tucker.

Of those, only the Lounsbery and Mcdougal firms submitted proposals. The others said they did not have the capacity to provide services due to their commitments to other local governments, according to city staff.

The Lounsbery firm proposed having Maland as the designated, interim city attorney and several other lawyers as a backup. They would charge a fixed monthly rate of $18,500 for eight on-site days, including City Council meetings. Their hourly rates were set as $235 an hour for the acting city attorney, $190 for associates and $100 for paralegals.

The Mcdougal firm offered attorney Morgan Foley to serve as the acting city attorney and multiple lawyers for support. They proposed fixed fees per month of $16,000 for up to 90 hours. Their hourly rates were $190 for partners and associates and $100 for paralegals.

Both firms were interviewed by an ad hoc subcommittee, comprised of Mayor

John Mccann and Councilmember Carolina Chavez, that was tasked with recommending a firm to the City Council.

“The proposal from Lounsbery was viewed to be a better fit for our council,” Googins told the City Council last week. “That’s primarily because of the availability of Jill Malan to provide those services to sit in this chair, to be in City Hall at least a couple of days every week.”

Malan served in Chula Vista as deputy city attorney and assistant city attorney from 2004 through 2021.

In the firm’s proposal, Malan said that her recent tenure with Chula Vista afforded her in-depth knowledge of the city and that “(t) his familiarity with the city will decrease the cost and time that otherwise would be associated with this type of transition.”

The appointment took place because Googins was hired as Santa Clara’s new city attorney. He is expected to begin March 1. The 12year city attorney, who earned a base salary of about $231,000, was first elected to the post in 2010 when Chula Vista had no limitations on how long someone could serve. In 2012, voters agreed to two consecutive four-year term limits. Googins was termed out in December 2022 and was barred from running for re-election.

He remained serving after his term, however, following the November 2022 elections. The late Simon Silva, a longtime Chula Vista deputy city attorney, was elected as city attorney, but he died in September.

Council members paid farewell to Googins during his last City Council meeting last week.

“I just feel so incredibly lucky, honestly, to be able to work at a job that I’ve loved, not every moment for sure,” said Googins. “But sorting through the politics and the policy and the law, in helping provide guidance to the professional staff and to all of you here, improving, I hope, from time to time, communications with the public and explaining why we do things and why we can’t do things.”

tammy.murga@sduniontribune.com