by Garth Meyer
Should Redondo Beach have an elected city attorney or an appointed one?
The city has retained an outside attorney to draft ballot language to go before voters.
City Attorney Mike Webb advised the hiring to avoid a conflict of interest, while he expressed “complete opposition” to the idea.
Webb, who has worked in the city attorney’s office for 29 years, previously announced he will not run again in 2025.
Redondo Beach is one of 12 California cities that elects its city attorney.
“We have the form of government that gives maximum control to local voters,” Webb said.
By a unanimous vote of the city council April 4, Michael Colantuono (of Colantuono, Highsmith and Whatley, PC in Grass Valley) was chosen for the ballot measure language, while the council continues to explore the issue of an appointed city attorney.
It first came up byway of councilmembers’ recommendation to a city Charter Review Committee, formed last May, to update the longstanding city charter.
Voters rejected a 1999 measure calling for an appointed city attorney. The charter review committee voted 6-1 to take up the matter again.
Mayor Pro-Tem Nils Nehrenheim explained the crux of the issue.
“The problem lies in when the policy of the council does not line up with the city attorney, the (city attorney) can do things to prevent that policy from moving forward,” he said.
“There’s advantages and disadvantages,” said Councilman Todd Loewenstein. “Advantages are for possibly less cost for an appointed city attorney and their staff; and it’s not a political position. Any time you run for office, it’s a political position. Disadvantages: it’s the majority will of the council, if you have turnover in the city council, that could mean a turnover for the city attorney.”
Loewenstein made the motion April 4 to hire Colantuono and Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr., seconded it, with an amendment.
“The scope will include advice when the committee determines that the city attorney has disqualifying bias,” Obagi said.
Then, on Tuesday night this week, Obagi moved to retain Colantuono and for the charter review committee to come back with recommendations by November for a ballot measure in 2026, to take effect, if it passes, in 2029.
If it was on the ballot next year, as the council previously intended, running a campaign for Redondo Beach city attorney the following March could be a moot point.
“I want to push this out so far that nobody thinks this has anything to do with our current city attorney, or a power grab, or us on the council now,” said Obagi.
The motion passed 4-1, with Paige Kaluderovic voting against it.
Webb, in his fifth term as Redondo city attorney, noted that City Clerk Eleanor Manzano had informed him that she would come out publicly against the change. She will thus designate someone else in her office to write any ballot measure’s impartial analysis.
Kaluderovic said her reason to vote no Tuesday was because, since the timeline moved to 2026, there was no reason to hire Colantuono now, since his rate would likely need to be negotiated later anyhow.
“By putting the (general plan advisory) committee’s work off, it minimizes their hard work and effort,” said Nehrenheim. “It freezes their work and potentially throws it all out.”
Inclinations
An appointed city attorney would likely be chosen by a vote of the city council, with traditional veto power for the mayor.
City councilman Scott Behrendt, an attorney himself (like Obagji) said April 4, that a city attorney who is appointed would be inclined to (follow) the mayor and council as opposed to being “independent and lose the contract.”
Colantuono, who appeared by video at the meeting, added more on the subject.
“An elected city attorney is directly constrained by the voters,” he said. “An appointed city attorney is restrained by the city council, who are restrained by the voters.”
Colantuono alluded to an elected city attorney’s position as more stable.
“If there’s conflict there, (an appointed one) usually gets fired,” he said.
“I have not seen that,” said Rolf Strutzenberg, chairman of the charter review committee, of his research on surrounding cities.
Loewenstein headed off the April 4 discussion, saying that Colantuono was a great candidate and the council will debate the subject when the charter review committee finishes its work.
Reasons
The Redondo Beach city attorney acts as a “dual-function officer,” representing and advising the city council in legal matters, including civil litigation. Secondly, they prosecute misdemeanors and some felony cases sent back from the L.A. County district attorney’s office.
“It’s a matter of choice; what’s the reason to have the city attorney elected?” said Strutzenberg, whom Nehrenheim appointed to the charter review committee.“You would think the city can choose their legal representation. They can’t.”
What was the reason the committee voted 6-1 to proceed toward a ballot measure, in 2024 or 2026?
“There’s a variety of different reasons,” Strutzenberg said. “None have stood out so far as the biggest.”
The charter review committee was founded by Nehrenheim and Obagi, with each of the five councilmembers appointing one person and the mayor two.
Strutzenberg cited the special election controversy last summer as an example of concerns about an elected city attorney.
In a July decision to set up the Oct. 19 election, the city council took action on a night when the item was — or was not — properly agendized, according to the state’s Brown Act (depending on whom you ask).
Webb advised the council that the agenda item had not been properly announced to the public.
The mayor and council nonetheless went ahead with it, setting up the special election (the Obagi recall effort paired with the retail cannabis initiative).
“The city attorney clearly did not want that to happen,” Strutzenberg said.
Residents filed complaints with the L.A. County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Division, which later determined the Redondo Beach “city council’s actions undermined the spirit of the Brown Act, and the aim to give clear notice to members of the public (of agenda items). We urge you to take greater caution to avoid potentially committing a violation in the future.”
“That shows that the council majority were acting recklessly and the D.A. cautioned them from doing so,” Webb said. “I think that some councilmembers view any advice they don’t like as political… This particular council is more of an argument for an elected city attorney.”
Development
Earlier this year, on a 3-2 vote, the city council asked Mike Witzansky, city manager, to interview (nine) law firms and recommend an attorney to help write potential ballot language.
Chosen attorney Colantuono has argued before the State Supreme Court 14 times. His discounted hourly rate for the city is $395.
Witzansky noted this was at the “lower end of the scale” of the firms/attorneys interviewed, from a list the city has previously worked with.
Colantuono said at the April 4 council meeting that neither he, nor his firm, would seek to be the contract-city attorney in Redondo Beach if the charter is changed.
The city council would need to vote to put a ballot measure before the people.
“That’s a political choice for political people and I’m not a political person,” Colantuono said.
If a change is made, the county District Attorney’s office may take over prosecutions in Redondo.
“The majority of city attorneys do not do misdemeanor prosecutions. It’s a very different animal and I know it’s very important to the residents,” Webb said.
The hiring of an outside attorney for the ballot language made for a question of who would hire the outside lawyer.
“In every case (of hiring outside counsel) the city council does so upon recommendation of the city attorney,” said Webb. “The balance is the city council can’t just go seek an attorney they find more politically convenient. But the city attorney can’t just hire somebody the city attorney wants.”
In this instance, city manager Witzansky recommended Colantuono, whom the city council hired.
March measures
The charter review committee’s earlier work led to five ballot measures in this year’s March election, all of which passed, pertaining to city contracts, ranked-choice voting, and updated neutral language in the city charter.
“The city attorney (question) has by far been the most controversial we’ve handled,” said Strutzenberg.
The appointed-city attorney item was sent to the charter committee by the city council.
Previous councilmembers Laura Emdee and Christian Horvath voted against sending it to the committee. Emdee and Horvath each finished eight years in office April 4.
Colantuono has had a retainer contract with Redondo Beach since 2008. ER
