In a unanimous vote, Stockton City Council signaled its intent to hire Marci Arredondo as its new city attorney.
Under the proposed three-year contract, Arredondo will be paid $315,000 a year and receive a $500 stipend each month for vehicle expenses, according to a copy of her contract that Mayor Christina Fugazi read aloud at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Arredondo will also receive 30 days of vacation time and 15 sick days annually, Fugazi said.
The meeting’s agenda had listed an intent to interview and hire a new city attorney during closed session, with a generic contract minus any specifics on pay or benefits included for later consideration during public session. Prior to Arredondo’s hiring, the council also had not released any information on who they were going to interview or how much the new city attorney would be paid annually.
Arredondo’s hiring won’t be finalized until she passes a background check, Fugazi said. The city didn’t immediately release any information about the new attorney’s appointment, background or qualifications. She appears to have previously worked for the city attorney’s office.
Stockton has been looking for a new lawyer since January, when former City Attorney Lori Asuncion resigned after working in the city’s legal office for 18 years.
Neither the city nor Asuncion provided a reason for the departure, though Asuncion’s possible firing had been on the agenda during the closed session where she reportedly resigned. Assistant City Attorney Taryn Jones has been serving as Stockton’s acting legal chief since Asuncion’s exit.
Arredondo will hold sweeping influence over how Stockton responds to lawsuits against the city, as well as how the city conducts its own lawsuits. She will also be responsible for providing legal advice to councilmembers and other city officials.
The council was scheduled to interview candidates behind closed doors Tuesday during a nearly-five hour closed session, documents linked to the agenda show.
In the past, City Council has often included the names and contracts, including pay and benefits, of officials the council plans to hire in public agendas. Council is charged with directly hiring Stockton’s city manager, attorney, clerk and auditor, though the auditor role has long been outsourced to private companies.
That was the case with former city attorneys Asuncion and John Luebberke, City Clerk Katherine Roland and former clerk Eliza Garza, and City Manager Johnny Ford and former interim City Manager Steve Colangelo, past agendas show.
However, there’s no city law or policy that requires a public, proposed contract to name the candidate, City Clerk Katherine Roland told Stocktonia Monday.
“As long as the title header states what the council is going to be discussing, that’s the legal requirement, and whatever else is just however it’s done,” she said.
Fugazi put the vote on Tuesday’s agenda, Roland said. The mayor hadn’t included the name and salary information for the potential hire because it had not been clear who would get the job, Fugazi’s spokesman, Jason Teramoto, told Stocktonia Monday.
While California’s open meetings law also doesn’t necessarily require an agendized contract to include the candidate’s name and proposed pay, it would be a violation for councilmembers to discuss possible salary numbers in closed session, David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, said Monday.
“They could not pre-cook the debate on compensation, come out of closed session and say well, we’ve already discussed this … even if they were to ratify that in open session,” Loy said.
Though there’d been no indication councilmembers had plan to do so, Loy said that, “I’m just saying, that’s a risk.”