pages: OpenGovernmentCommission/2021-08-02.pdf, 2
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OpenGovernmentCommission | 2021-08-02 | 2 | works; she is not convinced either way whether outside legal counsel is needed or whether it could be done in-house with City Attorney staff; if the Commission is not satisfied with the product, then the alternative could be tried; all attorneys are trained to argue multiple sides of any issue; she would like to see a neutral memo first. Commissioner Reid stated the Commission's task is to ask what is the best way for the OGC to serve the public; the OGC needs to ensure that someone who is bringing forward a complaint receives the best chance of being heard and understood; suggested having outside, independent counsel for the next few meetings to see what that would look like; stated the complaints heard this year already took the other approach with the City Attorney's office drafting resolutions, which had a lot of confusion; she would like to try the outside counsel approach, but would like to know a cost estimate first. Commissioner LoPilato stated that she does see the two paths as the most desirable; she is leaning towards the option of what the City Attorney's office proposed because it is an incremental step; there has actually never been a neutral memo come from the City Attorney's office; everything has always been viewed by everyone writing it as an advocacy piece; the City Attorney's office prefers to structure it with the Chief Assistant City Attorney providing advice to the Commission and having outside counsel when necessary; suggested leaning into trust and seeing what that looks like; the memos would be put forth publicly; the Commission would be very aware if they are not neutral; she would also like more guardrails in place and a commitment that the OGC would be receiving an instructional memo. Chair Tilos stated that he would be supportive of trying out a restructured process of having a walled-off Chief Assistant City Attorney, along with providing a neutral memo; it would be a marginal step towards building trust between the OGC and City Attorney's office. Commissioner LoPilato stated it is also possible to do both options, which would be a good trust exercise and be improvement to the support of the Commission. The Chief Assistant City Attorney stated that she appreciates all the comments; she echoes Commissioner LoPilato's comment that the City Attorney's office has never provided a neutral statement, summary, memo or jury instructions; she understands the Commission's point about wanting some explanation of the case; concurred with Commission Chen's comments that attorneys are trained to both write advocacy pieces and to frame issues neutrally; she can definitely do both and it is something her office would entertain in the context of supporting the Commission in its adjudicatory capacity; she envisions that there would be support in terms of a neutral statement of the cases; generally speaking, the City Attorney's office is in charge of handling legal advice and representation in house; from time to time, outside counsel is hired for a variety of reasons; she does not know what the cost would be to use outside counsel. In response to Chair Tilos' inquiry, Commissioner LoPilato stated it sounds like everyone, including the Chief Assistant City Attorney, is in alignment for the first piece regarding the Meeting of the Open Government Commission August 2, 2021 2 | OpenGovernmentCommission/2021-08-02.pdf |