Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Governance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Oxnard City Attorney outlines office workload: contracts, records and growing litigation staff
Summary
City Attorney Steve Fisher and deputies told the City Council the City Attorney's Office has eight attorneys, handles transactional work (contracts, ordinances and interagency agreements), reviews every council agenda for Brown Act compliance, and is expanding litigation capacity with new hires.
Steve Fisher, City Attorney, introduced a briefing on the City Attorney's Office and its work, saying the office is staffed with eight attorneys and support staff and divides its work into three primary areas: transactional work, open meetings and public records, and litigation.
The presentation emphasized the transactional workload handled by assistant city attorneys and counsel. Assistant City Attorney Elle McCarron said the office creates citywide contract templates and one-off agreements for items such as professional services, fleet and maintenance agreements, public-project design-build contracts, development agreements, sewer-use agreements and cell-tower and franchise agreements. "We create the citywide contract templates, the professional service agreements, the on calls, the general service, the fleet maintenance agreements, public projects, design build agreements," she said.
McCarron also provided counts for ordinance and resolution work: "In 2025, we assisted and drafted 20 ordinances and we completed 75 resolutions. For 2026, we have about 21 ordinances in the queue," she said, adding that ordinances require public engagement and interdepartmental coordination before adoption.
The office described its agenda-review role: McCarron said the City Attorney's Office reviews every agenda item for legal compliance with the Brown Act and coordinates those reviews with the city manager, finance and the city clerk. "We review every single agenda item that comes to you guys at Council and committee," she said.
On capacity, McCarron said the office functions as general counsel for roughly 1,800 city employees across 33 client departments and is building litigation capacity with two new deputy hires. She reported on 2025 activity in litigation-related work, including 123 subpoenas processed and roughly 21 active litigation matters handled in-house or with outside counsel oversight.
The briefing did not include any council motions or votes; presenters described ongoing operational work and recent caseload figures and said the office expects increased ordinance work in 2026 as items are drafted and routed for public review.
