City Attorney Election: Council Wall Of Opposition Collapses

Davis & Brinkman holdout to the end:

Atkin Relents, Election Will Go Forward

Barraged with calls and e-mails from constituents, councilwoman Ruth Atkin finally relented today and agreed to permit a November ballot initiative about removing the Emeryville City Attorney to move forward.  Ms Atkin's change of heart marked the culmination of a week of high drama in the City Attorney election fight that started with a solid wall of opposition among her colleagues but ultimately withered, leaving Ms Atkin as the swing vote and exposed to the resident's wrath.
The initiative began last April as a petition to replace the City Attorney with subcontracted legal work for the city, mostly as a cost cutting measure, by council member Ken Bukowski.  Mr Bukowski submitted the signatures to the County Registrar of Voters for certification and it was announced on Friday that the election could move forward if the city council OK'ed the County certification in time.  Problems arose when the rest of the council demurred on a required August 2nd certification meeting, citing long held vacation plans, regardless of council protocol permitting voting by telephone.  Failure to meet on August 2nd would sink the whole thing, owing to a State mandated time schedule.

After a couple days consideration, councilwoman Jennifer West told the City Manager she would be willing to participate in the required August 2nd and follow-up meeting.  She challenged the other council members and invoked a moral duty to democracy, stating, "The council must show that we hear all 567 people who signed the initiative and we should place this item on the ballot in November".

Ruth Atkin's change of heart today joined with her colleagues Ms West and Mr Bukowski and crumbled the city council's wall of opposition.  Left standing and resisting the November election, and the people they serve, are council members Nora Davis and Kurt Brinkman.

Council member West's explanation of her position on this matter can be read in The Secret News

Scheme Nixes Election With Stroke Of Pen

Undemocratic tricks to disenfranchise public:

Council Uses Last Ditch Parliamentary Move to Avoid Mere Formality, Citizen Vote Blocked   

Short-circuiting a referendum aimed at firing controversial City Attorney Michael Biddle, Emeryville's City Council resorted Friday to drastic, and some would say undemocratic, action to prevent it from appearing on the ballot. All at taxpayer expense.

The city-wide ballot measure, chiefly pushed by City Councilman Ken Bukowski, would outsource the city's legal services to private firms, and eliminate the office of city attorney. As Mr Biddle already hires outside firms to conduct virtually all of the city's legal affairs, the councilman argues a cost savings would emerge by cutting out Mr Biddle, whom he regards as little more than a million-dollar-a-year middleman. Others say the measure is only the latest salvo in an ongoing personal feud between the two.

Mr Bukowski began circulating petitions on April 26th with six other citizen volunteers. On July 15th he turned in 724 signatures, of which 567 were certified by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, 16 more than the required 551 needed to place the referendum before Emeryville voters in November.

The final step, the formality of certification by the city council, would occur at the council's regularly scheduled meeting August 2nd, in time to meet the County's deadline. On Friday however, the city clerk announced that the council had last December canceled that meeting and they were so far unwilling to reinstate it, sending the referendum into electoral limbo. A meeting scheduled for August 16^th would be too late, say county officials.

By the next election, in the spring of 2012, the signatures would be voided and new petitions would have to be circulated.

Mr Bukowski said his four colleagues on the council are allied with Mr. Biddle and accused them of using parliamentary procedures to thwart his efforts and avoid going before voters. "At our last meeting, the council voted to 'study' the measure. That is a stalling tactic so they did not have to put it on the November ballot,” councilman Bukowski said.  City Manager Pat O'Keeffe seemed to concur with Mr Bukowski, telling the council at the meeting, "You've already studied it".

According to council member Bukowski, the council has spent some $10,000 in taxpayer funds for legal advice from a private law firm in how to torpedo the measure. The council turned to former longtime Berkeley City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque now of Los Angeles-based Burke,Williams & Sorensen.  Mr Bukowski described the use of public funds as a “blatant conflict-of-interest.”

Mr Bukowski said that unless the council schedules a meeting for August 2nd, its normal time slot for a regular meeting and votes to certify the measure for the voters consideration, he would pursue a Writ of Mandate and notify the County Grand Jury.

City Attorney Ballot Measure Signature Drive Certified

City Attorney Ballot Initiative Clears County

Alameda County announced yesterday that the petition to replace Emeryville's City Attorney has received the proper number of signatures and is legal to appear before the voters in November according to council member Ken Bukowski.  The last hurdle for the initiative is that it be certified by the city council, he told the Tattler.

Council Moves Sharply Against Emeryville Residents

July 19, 2011: Democracy Dies At City Hall

City Council: Emeryville Citizens Are Too Stupid To Decide For Themselves

We Are The Law, Says Council
Tonight, the Emeryville city council revealed the months of City Hall backroom dealing with Pixar and other large businesses has paid off handsomely for the business community.  In a shocking and brazenly undemocratic vote,  tonight the city council moved to protect Pixar's interests and voted to disallow the citizens a ballot initiative in November whether the infamous business licence tax cap should be eliminated as they previously said they would.  Pixar, which would have seen a tax hike up to normal Bay Area rates with a tax cap removal had publicly threatened the city with "rancor" if they did not get their way.  It's unknown what they told decision makers in the closed room meetings at City Hall.

In another startling anti-democratic move, the council tonight also voted to disallow the citizens to decide for themselves whether the City Attorney should be replaced.  Council member Ken Bukowski warned his colleagues that the petition to place the decision on the November ballot was in the process of being certified by the County Registrar of Voters but the rest of the council moved forward anyway to head off a citizen vote in November.

The Tattler will be covering this remarkable anti-democratic turn of events in coming days as we uncover more facts.

City Attorney Ballot Measure Signature Drive Finishes

City Attorney Petition Drive Crosses 551 Signature Threshold, 

Dirty Tricks Alleged

Council member Ken Bukowski reports to the Tattler that the petition to abolish the city attorney as a paid staff member, circulating around the city for the last several weeks, has surpassed 551 signatures; enough to place the measure before Emeryville voters in November despite allegations of signature suppressing dirty tricks .  If the petition is certified by the County Registrar of Voters, citizens will be able to decide for themselves if the city of Emeryville should subcontract out its legal services as most cities our size do or to continue to retain the paid city attorney position and its staff.

Mr Bukowski told the Tattler that the petition drive, a grassroots effort conducted by many concerned Emeryville residents, has netted 773 signatures total and of that amount 202 are probably invalid due to errors he detected, leaving 571 valid and acceptable signatures for the County.  The County has indicated that a minimum of 551 valid signatures need to be verified to place the measure before voters in November.

  

Dirty Tricks

Mr Bukowski told the Tattler that two Emeryville resident signature solicitors, who might have had a change of heart about the petition drive midway through their signature gathering efforts, failed to submit all their collected signatures, a prosecutable crime he says.  Many signatures may have been discarded by the two he says.
Mr Bukowski said he will be talking to the District Attorney's office about this breach of public trust by the two unnamed citizens, with the intent of filing a complaint.

Petitions for ballot initiatives must have the proper number of signatures and the signers must accurately and legibly provide their printed names as it appears on their voter registration card on file.  In addition, the proper address as it appears on the voter registration card must also be entered.  Any mistake invalidates a signature.

Although the city attorney ballot initiative has been taken up by many Emeryville citizens, it's been associated most strongly with council member Bukowski as he was the progenitor and its most vocal supporter.   

Letter To The Tattler: City Attorney Initiative

The ballot initiative petition to change the way the city handles its legal affairs is being distributed around town for residents to sign.  Signers must live in Emeryville and be registered to vote here.  Many citizens are helping to solicit signatures for the possible November ballot.  These petition carriers have indicated that helping to circulate the petitions is open to all residents and Council Member Ken Bukowski can be contacted for those wishing to sign the petition or to help circulate one.  Mr Bukowski's contact number is in the letter (below) that was received today for posting in the Tattler:  

To the Tattler:

The ballot initiative concerning the legal department at City Hall is important for the city's financial health.  Many cities our size and larger don't have City Attorney departments but instead contract out their legal work with specialized law firms, depending on the case.  Emeryville has also contracted out many legal firms for various legal issues in the past and continues to do so.  The Redevelopment Agency has finished the bulk of its work and is likely to shrink in size and as a consequence it is not warranted at this time to carry the kind of overhead we have with our legal department. This ballot initiative would put the issue before Emeryville voters and will permit both pro and con arguments to respond and these will be printed on the ballot.

It's important to resolve this issue.  Signers of the petition for the ballot initiative will remain anonymous to all but the Alameda county registrar.  Please sign this ballot initiative petition. Contact me at (510) 435-1861 or Joan Strasser at (510) 653-3174 and we will make the petition available for you.  Council member Ken Bukowski also can be contacted at 305-0000 and he will bring the petition to you.

-Scott Donahue

 Emeryville resident

City Attorney: Councilman Bukowski's Letter To Emeryville Residents

Letter To The People Of Emeryville From Councilman Ken Bukowski

Council member Ken Bukowski is soliciting the following letter to the people of Emeryville, explaining his view of the November ballot initiative that would replace the existing city attorney with subcontracted attorneys on an "as needed" basis as most towns our size do.  Mr Bukowski notes that in addition to cost saving, our town would be better served legally by the new proposal. Councilman Bukowski is actively seeking out residents around town and he is disseminating this letter before asking them to sign a petition to place the issue on the ballot. There is a summation at the bottom of this letter outlining the eight reasons for the petition drive.   

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November, 2011 Election
paid for by committee for city attorney measure    
by  Ken Bukowski

Emeryville  City  Attorney

Contract  Initiative  Measure

On April 26, 2011, a Notice of Intent to Circulate a petition to qualify a ballot measure known as the Emeryville City Attorney Contract Initiative Measure was filed with the City Clerk.

Your signature on this Ballot Petition will allow Emeryville Voters the opportunity to decide how the services of the City Attorney's office are provided in the upcoming November 2011 Election   Many years of unsuccessful attempts to reform the City Attorney's office has created the need to take the issue to the voters.

Many smaller cities have discovered the advantage of using sophisticated municipal law firms to handle legal matters Such law firms have more than 100 attorneys on Staff, with an expert in every field of municipal law. The collective resources of numerous cites make it possible to achieve lower legal costs, and at the same time, provide the best possible legal services available.

The Emeryville City Attorney hires outside legal counsel for every case. He does not do any legal work.
There are no specific tasks assigned to him, individually.  He assumes the role as the city's "Legal Agent."

Once an outside attorney is chosen for a case, our Legal Agent, obtains legal advice and develops a determined  strategy to handle the matter. Once the strategy is developed, he takes it to the City Council for "rubber stamp" approval. The Council does not participate in the discussion to develop the strategy. We don't even  see who is handling the cases.

The City Council should have direct dialogue with the attorneys who represent us.  We deserve the opportunity to influence the strategy of how legal cases are handled. Our Legal Agent does it all for us. He hires the attorneys, provides the instructions, and he pays the bills. The only role of the Council is to authorize his determined strategy to go forward.

A Legal Agent Denies Council Members Direct Access to the Attorney(s) We Hire  
For newer members of the council the lack of objective legal advice, and no prior history, makes it impossible to challenge determined strategy. As the City Attorney for many years, he knows what's best for the City Council, and he is determined to make that happen. Other alternatives to handle legal issues are not considered or explored.

Our Legal Agent also hires an Assistant City Attorney who handles the daily legal needs of the City Staff. The Assistant City Attorney, also handles almost all the Staff assignments. The City Attorney is Paid $263,236 annually.


He is the Single  Largest Unnecessary  Expense  in  the  City
He receives $8,044 annually in sick leave, which can be cashed out at 100%. He gets  (5) weeks paid vacation, and (2) weeks of paid administrative leave. In addition Council has agreed to pay him (9) month's severance pay. On May 3rd, when his contract was just ratified, he actually asked for another NINE month's severance pay, but the Council turned it down. The uncertain outcome of the ballot measure was the reason for the request. However, Nora Davis could not get the majority to give it to him ($197,427,00]

The City Attorney should not work directly for the City Council as a Staff employee.  The City Attorney should work under the City  Manager. We don't need a separate city department functioning under a separate leader. All city departments should have only one set of priorities. The City Manager should control the use of resources for every city department, including expenditures for legal services. The City Attorney should not have unfettered authority hire outside counsel, or unilaterally decide how much we will spend on every case. Legal  Expenses are very costly, and must be better controlled.

Five separate individuals cannot properly manage a city employee on a day-to-day basis. The City Council refuses to require hourly accounting of time spent. (common in the field of law) The potential negative impact of such a requirement may be too revealing. We pay this individual more than a Quarter-Million Dollars each year, and there is no ability to discover how he spends his time...?
The politics associated with the operation and cost of the City Attorney's Office is the reason why controversy exists. Imagine the frustration of only being able to hear the opinion of a Legal Agent on every single matter. ?  Efforts to bring accountability result in immediate character assassination attacks by Nora Davis.

If the City Council contracts for legal services with a large municipal law firm, it removes the ability for personal relationships with Council Members. Evaluation of legal services would become performance based. A career City Attorney is unnecessary, and more costly over time, earning more money and benefits with less productivity and more determination to have it his way. He knows what's best for us.

The City Attorney May Have Violated State Laws on Conflict of Interest
Government Code Section 87200 includes "City Attorney's" within  the definition of a "public official" who must comply with state laws governing conflict of interest.

Government Code Section 87100 provides,  "No public official at any level of state or local government shall make, participate in making or in any way attempt to use his official position to influence a governmental decision in which he knows or has reason to know he has a financial interest.
Section 87105. (a) A public official who holds an office specified in Section 87200 who has a financial interest in a decision within the meaning of Section 87100 shall, upon identifying a conflict of interest, or a potential conflict of interest, and immediately prior to the consideration of the matter, do all of the following:
 (1) Publicly identify the financial interest that gives rise to the conflict of interest, or potential conflict of interest, in detail, sufficient to be understood by the public.
(2) Recuse himself or herself from discussing, and voting, on the matter, or otherwise acting in violation of Section 87100.
(3) Leave the room until after the discussion, vote, and any other disposition of the matter is concluded, unless the matter has been placed on the portion of the agenda reserved for uncontested matters.


When the Notice of Intent to circulate the petition for this ballot measure was filed,  the City Attorney failed to comply with the provisions of the Government Code. Despite the obvious conflict, The City Attorney hired (with city funds) Manuela Albuquerque,  former Berkeley City Attorney, a long time friend, to investigate the validity of the proposed measure. Ms. Albuquerque promptly responded with a legal opinion "the measure is outside the scope of the initiative power of the electorate."  The Opinion was used as the basis of a written email request (below)  to withdraw the proposed ballot measure.

Dear Mr. Bukowski:
"Attached please find a cover letter and an opinion of outside counsel regarding the Emeryville Contract City Attorney Initiative Measure. As you will read for yourself, the opinion concludes that the Measure is outside the scope of the initiative power. Accordingly, I am requesting that you withdraw the Measure and provide me your decision no later than 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3, 2011. If you decide not to withdraw the Measure, then next Tuesday night as part of City Council Agenda item VIII.K., I will ask the City Council to authorize me to file a declaratory relief action to obtain a judicial declaration relieving me of my duty to prepare the ballot title and summary for the Measure. I ask that you give careful consideration of the opinion and withdraw the Measure so that the City can avoid the time, cost and expense of unnecessary and avoidable litigation."
Sincerely yours, Michael G. Biddle, City Attorney, City of Emeryville

Below is the response-
Mr. Biddle:  Thanks for your response.  You apparently think it is OK for you to hire outside counsel to have the ballot  measure declared to be invalid. I am not convinced the measure is invalid. My understanding is the test of validity doesn't happen unless it is approved by the voters....?  I don't believe the court is going to agree that a title and summary not be provided, even if the measure is invalid...
I don't think it is ethical, or proper, for you to handle any aspect of this ballot measure, since it affects you personally. If the court does not agree with you, and the measure goes forward, you have used city funds to provide an argument against approval of the measure. To me this is an act of gross misconduct.

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On May 3rd the City Attorney made a full (20) minute presentation to the Council, using Ms. Albuquqrque's legal opinion, to convince the City Council the ballot measure is illegal and should not be allowed go forward.

It became necessary for me to hire an attorney (Stuart Flashman) at my own expense, to provide another legal opinion to help overcome the City Attorney's determined effort to stop the proposed measure from going forward.. However, after Mr. Flashman addressed the City Council, The City Attorney's effort
was unsuccessful  Below is a partial transcript of  Mr. Flashman's comments made to the City Council, and the closing remarks of the City Council meeting on  May 3, 2011.

 Flashman said, "the courts really do not like pre-election challenges to ballot measures, because they say, hey, we put this in the constitution that people have a right to put something on the Ballot."  "We trust the people.., If the people want to put something on the ballot, let's see if they vote for it. If they do vote for it and it turns out it's illegal we can knock it off later, but why don't we trust the people, rather than having the court step in and take it off the ballot, or not let it get to the ballot..?"
"is this really a good use of taxpayer resources to try and file an action to get it knocked off, just to save the City Attorney the trouble of preparing a Ballot title and summary. To my mind that is not a good bargain"
"The other thing I have to say is I'm a little puzzled, and concerned, that the City Attorney is presenting this, and the City Attorney is involved in this, given that this Ballot Measure specifically involves the City Attorney. It seems like there's a conflict of interest there. if I was the City Attorney I would be stepping aside."

Partial transcript of city council meeting on May 3, 2011
Nora Davis    |   Mr. Biddle, it looks like we are going to proceed ahead.. And how will we... who's going to be handling this...?
Michael Biddle    |    Well, I could have Manuela Albuquerque.... At this point there is no..... in the statute, no point in time where it specifically calls out that the City Attorney should not be involved. It's when you are preparing the impartial analysis. But the preparation of the title and summary, there's no restriction, but I think I'm going to have Manuela prepare it for us.
Nora Davis    |    I, for one, think we need to get some distance here, because of the allegations that have been made here about conflict of interest.
Michael Biddle    |    That's why I had Ms. Albuquerque look into the Measure.<<
Nora Davis    |    I understand that, but as we go down this path, let's have an outside attorney handling this particular matter.
Michael Biddle    |   I certainly will.

However, ( as stated above) Mr. Biddle directed Albuquerque to prepare the Title & Summary for the ballot measure. Can it be a surprise the result is aimed to confuse & discourage voter support. It says, "the current city attorney, and two individuals within the City Attorney's Office are employees of MESA, and not of the City of Emeryville.
Are we to believe the Emeryville City Attorney is not an employee of the City..?  Emeryville taxpayer money is used to pay his wages & generous benefits...?  Mr. Biddle has a contract with the City, not MESA. His benefits are tied to what is provided to other city employees.
Emeryville taxpayers are paying him..MESA was created as a tool for City Employees, including Mr. Biddle, to avoid paying social security taxes.
It seems the title & summary was prepared with false & misleading information. However, If the title and summary was challenged, the time necessary to resolve the issue would mean the measure could not qualify in time for the November election.

A Summation
This ballot measure will provide Emeryville with the same opportunity as many other small cities who contract out legal services with large law firms who specialize in municipal law.
The collective economic power of numerous cities contracting with large municipal law firms creates a cost savings. One individual city, acting on its own, hiring different law firms, cannot achieve the same level of benefit. Such law firms have over 100 attorney's on staff to handle every aspect of a city's complex legal needs.
Approval of the ballot measure will:
[1]  Save money on the cost of legal services.
[2]  Establish hourly reporting for the high cost of all legal services.
[3]   Establish the preparation of an estimated budget for every case.
[4]  Establish direct communication between the City Council and the attorneys who represent the City.
[5]  Remove the politics from the City Attorney's Office to prevent personal relationships with Council Members (the reason why supportive members of the City Council are willing to pay him so much money).
[6]  Provide City Manager oversight over the operation and control of expenditures by the City Attorney. This insures every City Department has the same priorities. The City Manager should participate in the choice and evaluation of legal services provided to the City.
[7] Eliminate the necessity to pay the substantial cost of city employee benefits in the City Attorney's Office.
[8]  Eliminate the personal involvement, and personal opinion, of the City Attorney with the handling of personnel matters in the City.

THE VOTERS NEED TO DECIDE 
THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE

Biddle Contract Approved, 9 Months Pay Perk Added

Worried About Termination, Biddle Nets Ballot Initiative Severance Pay 

Emeryville city attorney Mike Biddle changed his employment contract with the city to blunt the effects of a possible termination of his employment by voters in the scheduled November ballot initiative.  Mr Biddle however lost his bid to receive the 18 months ballot initiative severance pay he requested, garnering instead nine months by city council fiat last Tuesday.
The council voted 4-1 to grant nine months severance pay with council member Ken Bukowski dissenting, claiming Mr Biddle should receive no special severance in the event the people vote him (Biddle) out of office.  Mr Bukowski is the progenitor of the autumn ballot initiative that would remove the city attorney position as a regular employee of the city adding instead subcontractor attorneys for the city's legal work.

18 months of aggregate salary for Mr Biddle would total at least $431,000 based on the city attorney's 2010 salary according to the Public Employees Salary Database.   Council member Jennifer West offered instead 9 months of salary totaling about $216,000, a savings of approximately $216,000 for the city.

The negotiation of Mr Biddle's employment contract was regularly scheduled by the city council and the looming ballot initiative against the city attorney's employment is unconnected to it.

Council OK's Ballot Initiative Against City Attorney

Voters Will Decide In November

Attorney Biddle Fails Attempt To Block Voter Referendum

The ongoing battle between Emeryville city councilman Ken Bukowski and city attorney Mike Biddle over the future of the attorney's position as city employee entered the electorate signature gathering phase Tuesday night as the city council blocked Mr Biddle's attempt to thwart a November ballot initiative on the issue.   The council refused a recommendation by Mr Biddle to stop councilman Bukowski's ballot initiative to subcontract out the city attorney position at City Hall, after hearing testimony from attorney Stuart Flashman, representing Mr Bukowski.

Mr Biddle implored the council to not let the voters decide about whether we keep a city attorney stating the ballot initiative, slated for November, is illegal.  The city attorney maintains the issue must not appear before the voters because it is an "administrative rather than a legislative item".  He quoted the California constitution to support his decision.
Mr Flashman told the council they don't need to rule on the legality of the proposed ballot initiative but they should first allow the voters to have their say noting that courts are generally reluctant to decide before the people do.  "Courts don't like pre-election changes" he said.

Mr Flashman noted there is no case law to cite in this case and it is unknown as to the legality of it.  He warned the council that if they were to move to stop the ballot initiative before the voters get a chance to have their say, a legal challenge will cost the city "at least the $15,000 the ballot initiative is slated to cost", likely more he intoned.

Both Stuart Flashman and mayor Nora Davis chastised the city attorney for his involvement in trying to quell the voter initiative, effectively saving his own job, "I'm a little puzzled and concerned that the city attorney is involved in this" Mr Flashman said adding it's a "conflict of interest".  Council member Davis told the city attorney, "We need to get some distance here because of the allegations of conflict of interest".

After some discussion, no council member offered up a motion to satisfy Mr Biddle so Ms Davis turned to the city attorney, "Well Mr Biddle it looks like we're going to proceed ahead".  The signature drive will begin in a few days according to council member Bukowski.

City Attorney Fires Back Against Bukowski Ballot Initiative

City Attorney Hires His Own Attorney

Biddle Says Ballot Initiative Is Illegal

City Attorney Mike Biddle has notified the city council that a ballot initiative measure calling for Mr Biddle's ouster and started by councilman Ken Bukowski is illegal.  Mr Bukowski is calling for a vote of the people to decide if Emeryville's city attorney position should be replaced with attorneys to be hired as sub-contractors and used by the city on an 'as needed' basis, mostly to save money.
In a April 29th letter to council member Bukowski, obtained by the Tattler, the city attorney says he hired his own attorney that maintains such an initiative is "beyond the scope" of the initiative process and the resident citizens may not make such a change, only the city council wields that power.

Lawsuit Threatened
Mr Biddle indicated in a separate Friday evening e-mail to Mr Bukowski and cc'ed to the entire council that he will seek "declaratory relief" from the council, relieving him (Biddle) of his duty as city attorney to prepare the ballot initiative for citizens signature unless Mr Bukowski withdraws his ballot measure.  He ended by threatening the councilman and the city as a whole, "I ask that you give careful consideration of the opinion and withdraw the Measure so that the City can avoid the time, cost and expense of unnecessary and avoidable litigation".
Council member Bukowski is calling Mr Biddle's direct involvement in the handling of the case a conflict of interest and has characterized his action as an act of "gross misconduct".  Says Mr Bukowski, "I don't think it is ethical or proper [for the city attorney] to handle any aspect of this ballot measure since it affects [him] personally".

Mr Biddle has sought legal opinion from Manuela Albuquerque of the high powered law firm of Burke, Williams & Sorensen LLP, a Los Angeles based company.  Ms Albuquerque, a former Berkeley city attorney, flatly stated in a letter to Mr Biddle that the people of Emeryville are not allowed to decide about the issue since, "The subject of the Measure is an administrative act and not a legislative one".
Presumably, the taxpayers of Emeryville are paying for the services of Burke, Williams & Sorensen.

The city attorney will ask for the declaratory relief from his duty to forward the ballot measure to the voters on Tuesday night before the city council.  The city council will vote on Mr Biddle's contract and whether to extend it or not also on Tuesday but that vote is incidental to the question of the ballot measure since the terms of Mr Biddle's existing employment contract are up for consideration regardless.

Bukowski Petitions To Fire City Attorney

Council Member Bukowski Starts Petition Drive Against City Attorney

"He [Biddle] is the single largest, unnecessary expense 

the City is paying for." - Ken Bukowski

Emeryville council member Ken Bukowski has called city attorney Mike Biddle out for the final showdown in his long simmering battle over Mr Biddle's employment contract, the Tattler has learned.
As of late, it's mostly been a war of words between the two men but now councilman Bukowski has brought out the big guns in the form of a city-wide petition drive to force out the head attorney and eliminate the paid employee position in favor of an attorney sub-contractor position to be used in an 'as needed' basis.

Beyond his questions of competence on the part of the city attorney, councilman Bukowsi says Mr Biddle's contract is too expensive and taxpayers could save money by sub-contracting out attorney services as most small cities do.  "The city of Pittsburg has a redevelopment agency ten times the size of Emeryville", council member Bukowski told the Tattler, "They use outside legal counsel...they have over a 100 attorneys on staff as a retainer for the same money we pay to only one individual [Biddle]".  He added that our city attorney earns more than the Oakland city attorney, "and we're only a fraction the size of Oakland".

Mike Biddle made $287,448 in total compensation last year according to the Public Employee Salaries Database.

The matter of the city attorney will go before Emeryville voters in November if Mr Bukowski can garner the required signatures from residents before the first week of August.   The councilman has filed the ballot measure with the city and the signature gathering processes should begin "in about ten days" he says.  A total of about 590 signatures will be required to place the item on the ballot.

In a possible conflict of interest, Mr Biddle himself could process the ballot measure against him, including writing the 'objective' voter summation for the ballot measure according to Mr Bukowski.  The councilman expressed displeasure at this prospect and indicated the process should be handled by an disinterested and unbiased outside attorney.

Mr Bukowski has obviously been preparing for the move against Mr Biddle; a table will be set up in neighborhoods throughout the city where he will be soliciting signatures and residents will be able to track the location of the table in real time on a Twitter account Mr Buklowski plans on setting up expressly for the signature drive.  A web page will also be set up so residents can follow the progress, Mr Bukowski says.  The councilman said he will devote four hours a day gathering signatures, informing Emeryville residents about the problems with the city attorney and registering new voters.