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Committee reviews third-quarter city attorney and engineering invoices; legal bills flagged as privileged
Summary
The Budget & Audit Committee reviewed third-quarter invoices for the city attorney and the city engineering contractor, noted a February engineering invoice of about $102,000 and an annual engineering contract total of roughly $477,000, and was told attorney invoices are attorney-client privileged and cannot be released without waiving privilege.
The Budget & Audit Committee on April 7 reviewed third-quarter professional services expenses for the city attorney and the city engineering contractor as part of action item 3C. Regina (city staff) provided printed copies of invoices for committee members and said she compiled last quarter——s invoices for both BBK (city attorney) and the city——s engineering contractor.
Mayor Tropeano and committee members noted a $102,000 invoice in February and referenced a total of about $477,000 in engineering contract charges for the last contract year. Regina said the invoices are available for committee members and the public in printed form but that BBK invoices are attorney-client privileged.
"Everything that BBK sends is attorney client privileged," Regina said, explaining that producing individual BBK invoices in a public meeting would waive privilege. The committee discussed moving to electronic billing and asked staff to include a contract- and fee-review as part of the FY25/26 budget process.
Regina said an incoming management analyst (starting April 14) will begin an assessment of service agreements and contracts and that staff will report back on options to reduce professional-services spending and on whether invoice detail can be made available within legal constraints. The committee asked for quarterly reporting on contracted legal and engineering expenses as the FY25 budget process proceeds.
No formal action to release privileged invoices was taken at the meeting; the committee elected to proceed with a staff-led contract review and to request further detail in subsequent quarterly reports.
