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City Attorney seeks staff to handle ~500 conservatorship cases transferred from DA; BLA recommends a smaller initial addition
Summary
City Attorney Dennis Herrera asked for two attorneys and a legal assistant to manage about 491 conservatorship cases transferring from the District Attorney; BLA recommended approving one attorney and a legal assistant now and monitoring workload before adding another attorney. Committee ultimately approved the City Attorney's full staffing request after debate.
Dennis Herrera, City Attorney, asked the committee to approve three new positions (two attorneys and one legal assistant) to perform conservatorship work the Board reallocated from the District Attorney—ffective Jan. 1, 2019. Herrera said approximately 491 cases will transfer and the City Attorney—xpects to litigate complex civil proceedings that require dedicated staffing and institutional capacity.
BLA recommended authorizing a smaller initial increase — one attorney and one legal assistant — because the district attorney previously staffed these matters at roughly 0.9 FTE; BLA argued the city should begin with a smaller incremental increase and then return if the City Attorney demonstrates sustained need. The district attorney told BLA it had other unmet workloads and BLA therefore did not recommend cutting DA positions concurrently.
Supervisors debated long‑term staffing growth, whether the DA could continue the work with added resources, and the impact of pending state legislation that could expand conservatorship criteria. After discussion the committee rejected the BLA amendment and approved the City Attorney's request to add the full complement of positions now so the office can ramp up prior to the January transfer.
Why it matters: The decision shifts civil conservatorship litigation from the DA to the City Attorney with new budgeted staff; it affects how the city will manage involuntary civil commitments and assisted outpatient cases going forward.
