RICHMOND — After years contracting out its city attorney position to a Southern California law firm, Richmond will seek a new top counsel to add to their internal staff after receiving notice that the firm plans to resign.
Dave Aleshire and his firm, Aleshire & Wynder, will be stepping down as Richmond’s city attorney at the end of December, a decision Aleshire said is due to personal health reasons and demanding travel.
Richmond’s council meets three times a month, unlike the typical two-meeting schedule many other councils follow, and those meetings often go late into the evening, Aleshire said. The schedule required the 75-year-old attorney to travel from Irvine, where he lives, to Richmond frequently.
But it was a recent health scare that has been a key motivating factor for why Aleshire is stepping out of the top attorney role. Following a late council meeting in July, Aleshire said he began to feel “uncomfortable” and was taken to the hospital due to blood clots. Unable to fly home, he said he was transported back to Irvine by ambulance.
“My wife wasn’t happy about that, so I’m cutting back a bit on the schedule,” Aleshire said in an email Wednesday.
A founding partner at the firm, Aleshire has been contracted as Richmond’s city attorney since July 2022 under an estimated $1.8 million contract, after serving about six months as interim city attorney. He replaced Teresa Stricker, who is now top counsel for the city of Santa Rosa, after she resigned in late 2021.
Former Mayor Tom Butt, who served on the council for more than two decades and voted in favor of contracting with Aleshire, said the city selected a firm rather than hiring an attorney to its internal staff because it was hard to find someone to stay in the position.
Though not supportive of all of Aleshire’s legal decisions, Butt said he liked him and the service he provided to the city. But the former mayor also raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest with Aleshire and his firm, arguing that a city like Richmond, which often finds itself in legal battles, gives any firm the chance to direct cases itself rather than seek outside counsel.
“He had a really sweet deal because Richmond is a very litigious city, and so whoever gets the legal work for Richmond is going to make a lot of money,” Butt said.
Similar concerns were raised by Councilmember Soheila Bana during Tuesday’s council meeting.
Aleshire argued the concerns are hypothetical and unfounded, asserting his firm would not stand in the way if another group had better rates and has finished out years billing below their contract maxes.
The city has engaged with other attorneys on some issues and has beefed up its internal legal team over the years, both moves that would theoretically draw money away from Aleshire & Wynder, Aleshire said.
And while most Bay Area jurisdictions have in-house attorneys, Aleshire noted many in Southern California contract out.
“Our position is, if we control the litigation or are responsible for it, we’re held accountable,” Aleshire said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about what your costs are, and I think if one looks at how we actually handled things, our bills didn’t just escalate. They actually went down.”
Despite some concerns being raised, current councilmembers praised Aleshire and his work over the past few years, which has included challenging issues like negotiating a $550 million settlement with the Richmond Chevron Refinery and transitioning plans for Point Molate, a large swath of land along Richmond’s waterfront, from a major development project to open green space.
The council voted Tuesday evening to accept Aleshire’s resignation, approve a new 1-year services agreement worth $150,000 with Aleshire & Wynder for legal support on varying projects, and appointed Chief Assistant City Attorney Shannon Moore as temporary counsel. Moore’s annual salary will be increased to $341,391.58.
Meanwhile, the city will begin its search for a permanent replacement by first seeking a firm to help with the recruitment process.
“I think this is what’s best for the city, to move into a role where we have someone locally based in person as a city attorney, but also delighted that we get to keep Aleshire close to us to get good advice,” Councilmember Sue Wilson said.