Litigation and legal services
During my recent litigation against the City of Healdsburg, I discovered through public records that the City has been paying extravagantly—an average of $801,478 annually during 2023-2024—for legal services provided by the law firm of Healdsburg’s current City Attorney, who works part-time for Healdsburg under a contract with the City.
This far exceeds the $291,614 paid in 2024 by the City of Sonoma (with the same population as Healdsburg) to the law firm of Sonoma’s part-time contract City Attorney. It even exceeds the average annual $799,705 paid in 2023-2024 by Petaluma (with five times the population of Healdsburg) for its in-house City Attorney’s Office.
If our council members think they need to pay $800,000 yearly for legal services, they should consider changing to an in-house City Attorney’s Office. The $799,705 paid by Petaluma gets the full-time services of a City Attorney, two Assistant City Attorneys and a Legal Assistant—far better value than Healdsburg is currently getting.
Otherwise, the City Council should strike a better deal with the current City Attorney or retain a different contract City Attorney—say, the City of Sonoma’s—who can do the work for less cost.
Jon Eisenberg, Healdsburg
Prop 50 on the ballot
This is it. This letter is not hyperbolic or overly dramatic. Our governmental system, our vital Checks and Balances, our Human Rights, our economic freedom and most important to me, our beloved, hard-earned Democracy, erodes in front of our eyes. We have to do more than observe, hope, pray and just believe it will get better. This time invites action. As a lifelong learner, a career secondary educator and a public servant, I write to appeal to you:
This Nov. 4 we Californians will be asked to vote on what may be the most important election of our time. There are only so many actions regular citizens can do to stop our Country from falling into authoritarianism; this is one of those acts. California’s Proposition 50 is a vote for democracy.
Hope is a verb. Hope is active. Intentional. Vote Yes for temporary redistricting; it is our only hope of retaining our democracy. Our country, the world, is looking to California at this moment. The Texas legislature and governor started this; we the people of California will stop it. This is not about Gov. Newsom’s political record or red or blue: This is about us. Vote Yes on Prop 50.
Brigette Mansell, Healdsburg
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