To: Board of Supervisors
From: Thomas Geiger, County Counsel
Report Title: Amendment to Delta Counties Coalition Legal Services Contract with Soluri Meserve, A Law Corporation
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the County Counsel, or designee, to execute, a fifth amended and restated legal services contract, effective January 1, 2024, among Soluri Meserve, a Law Corporation, and the Counties of Contra Costa, Solano, and San Joaquin, to pay the firm an amount not to exceed $67,500 in each of 2024 and 2025, for a total contract payment limit of $456,500, for the firm’s legal work for the Delta Counties Coalition through December 31, 2025.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Water Agency funds will be used to pay one-fourth of the attorney’s fees and expenses charged by the firm, not to exceed $22,500 annually, for shared Delta Counties Coalition legal work through December 31, 2025.
BACKGROUND:
Osha Meserve of the law firm Soluri Meserve has represented the Counties of Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Solano on Delta Counties Coalition matters, including non-litigation legal and policy matters connected with the state’s proposed Delta Conveyance Project. Beginning January 1, 2024, Sacramento County began contracting with the firm under a separate services contract, but the firm will continue to perform legal services on behalf of all four counties and divide the cost of those services among the four counties.
The fifth amended and restated legal services contract makes the following changes to reflect this new arrangement: Sacramento County is removed as a party; the term is extended through December 31, 2025, and the payment limit is increased to $456,500, to reflect the payment limit for the remaining three counties through 2025; annual payment limits are included to provide that charges for services in each of 2024 and 2025 will not exceed $67,500 per year; terms were added to address shared services performed on behalf of the four counties; and billing and payment terms were revised to ensure the costs for shared services will continue to be divided among the four counties, even though Sacramento has its own contract with the firm.
Water Agency staff recommends approving the amendment to ensure the firm can continue to represent all four counties and divide the cost of the firm’s work among those counties, even though Sacramento County will have its own contract with the firm.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The legal services contract would not include terms to reflect coordination of services on behalf of the four counties, and the contract would expire at the end of 2024.