An amendment to the city”s agreement with its legal firm, Best, Best and Krieger was authorized the by Clearlake City Council on Thursday, Jan. 10, following a Closed Session discussion. The council appointed Malathy (Mala) Subramanian as City Attorney in place of Tom Gibson, who is leaving the firm to accept a position with the state.
“I”m sorry to see Tom leave,” said City Administrator Dale Neiman. “He has been the best city attorney I have worked with and always had the best interest of the city when making decisions and recommendations.”
Subramanian received her law degree from University of California, Hasting College of Law in 1999. She currently serves as city attorney for the cities of Lafayette and Livingston. She also serves as General Counsel to Merced County LAFCO, East Palo Alto Sanitary District and Lafayette Redevelopment Agency. She has been serving the City of Clearlake as General Counsel for the redevelopment agency.
According to BB&K”s Web site, www.bbklaw.com, Subramanian is experienced in providing advice in a variety of areas including conflict of interest, land use and planning, public works contracts and redevelopment.
In addition to appointing Subramanian, authorization was given to eliminate Dennis Cota as the attorney responsible for litigation matters and amend the agreement with a provision that states the attorney who handles litigation cases will be based on a recommendation by the city attorney and the city administrator.
“Mr. Cota left BB&K last year and therefore this provision in the agreement needs to be modified,” explained Neiman.
The city”s agreement with BB&K states in part “BB&K shall serve as City Attorney and shall perform legal services as may be required from time to time by the City and its officers as set forth in this Agreement.” A complete copy of the agreement is available for public review upon request at City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
