Ousted city attorney, who objected to Vallco plan, gets $205,000 settlement

CUPERTINO » Cupertino’s former city attorney, who alleged he was wrongfully ousted for voicing objections to a development plan for the Vallco Shopping Mall, will get a $205,000 payout to settle his legal threats against the city.

Randolph Hom, who was placed on paid administrative leave in May 2018 and took another job with the city of Fremont in October, claimed he was placed on leave as retaliation after he told city leaders that Sand Hill Property Company’s development plan for Vallco violates the city’s general plan.

At the time, the city was in the process of approving Sand Hill’s development application under Senate Bill 35, a controversial state bill that fasttracks housing developments by requiring cities to approve them as long as they include a certain percentage of affordable homes and meet basic zoning and planning rules.

Better Cupertino, a citizens group, is now suing the city for approving Sand Hill’s plan, arguing the SB 35 approval was improperly granted.

Hom, in a claim filed against the city in October, said he believed the Vallco project didn’t qualify for quick approval under SB 35 and expressed that opinion in an email to then-City Manager David Brandt. After sending that email, he claims former councilman Barry Chang sent him a series of text messages and berated him in person, threatening to fire him if he kept opposing the Vallco plan.

City council members approved the settlement Monday, which does not accept liability or validate any of Hom’s claims. By accepting the settlement, Hom agreed not to pursue a lawsuit.

Councilman Rod Sinks, who originally voted to place Hom on administrative leave, voted against accepting the settlement. He called Hom’s threat to sue a “bluff” and said the former city attorney was placed on leave because of other complaints about his job performance, long before the SB 35 application materialized.

“I would love to see a trial and have more information about what went down,” Sinks said. “I think a settlement is inappropriate, it’s a waste of public funds, and I will be voting no.”

The $205,000 amount is equivalent to nine months of severance pay, plus interest, some of which will be covered by the city’s insurance policy and the rest paid out of the general fund, according to spokesman Brian Babcock.

The city has already spent $136,530 in legal fees related to Hom’s threat to sue.

Councilman Jon Willey and Vice Mayor Liang Chao, who were elected to the council after Hom’s departure, both criticized the previous council’s decision to put Hom on paid leave.

Chao said if there were other issues with Hom’s job performance, city leaders could have worked with him before taking that action.

“It all happened very mysteriously,” Chao said. “I would really like to see everything open. Why, all of a sudden in the middle of the busiest time in the city, remove him from his job and still keep paying him?”

Mayor Steven Scharf said the settlement would be less costly and allow the city to move onto other, more important issues.

“I worked with Randy and I never had any problem with him,” Scharf said, adding that he can’t discuss the matter in more detail because it involves personnel issues. “I think it’s really time to put this behind us…it’s a big time sink, it’s a big money sink, I’d rather just settle this and move on to other issues in the city.”

Councilman Darcy Paul complimented Hom.

“Randy was a good attorney, I respected his integrity and it was unfortunate that we separated ways,” Paul said.

Hom’s attorney, Adam Zapala, declined to comment on the settlement.

After Hom said he planned to sue the city in October, Chang told this news organization he personally pushed for Hom to be placed on administrative leave because the attorney took a behind-thescenes approach in opposing the Vallco plan. At the time, Chang said Hom would have been fired outright if not for a clause in his contract barring the city from terminating him for up to a year

Chang said in a phone interview Tuesday that Hom circumvented the council by emailing the city manager.

“I told him, this Vallco decision is not your decision, it’s a city council decision…if you have any disagreement, let the council decide. And he did not,” Chang said. “The next day he sent out an email… which is not his job.”

“The city should not have approved the settlement because the outgoing city attorney, he wasn’t doing his job,” said Chang, who has denied all of Hom’s accusations.

Since Hom’s departure, rather than hiring a new full-time city attorney, the city has contracted with an outside law firm, Shute Mihaly and Weinberger, for city attorney services. Heather Minner now serves as the city attorney.