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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1195 City Attorney Paul Campo - Engagement Williams & Campo, P.C.BILL NO. 2013 -018 ORDINANCE NO. I RS- AN ORDINANCE APPOINTING PAUL CAMPO AS CITY ATTORNEY AND AUTHORIZING AND APPROVING A LETTER OF ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF RIVERSIDE AND WILLIAMS 8, CAMPO, P.C. FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF CITY ATTORNEY SERVICES AND SPECIAL COUNSEL SERVICES WHEREAS, a vacancy in the position of City Attorney will exist as of April 5, 2013 due to the resignation of Nancy Thompson; and WHEREAS, Section 79.230 RSMo, provides for the Mayor and Board of Aldermen to employ counsel to represent the City as city attorney and as special counsel to the City; and WHEREAS, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen find it is in the best interest of the City to appoint Paul Campo to serve in the capacity of city attorney until a successor is duly appointed and qualified and to further engage the services of Williams & Campo, P.C. to provide city attorney services and such other special counsel services as may be necessary or advisable from time to time; NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF RVERSIDE, MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1 — APPOINTMENT. Paul Campo is hereby appointed to serve as City Attorney until a successor is duly appointed and qualified. SECTION 2 — LETTER OF ENGAGEMENT. The Letter of Engagement between the City and Williams & Campo, P.C. in substantially the same form as attached hereto as Exhibit "A: is hereby authorized and approved. The Mayor is hereby authorized to execute the letter agreement and all other documents necessary to the performance thereof, and the City Clerk is authorized to attest thereto. SECTION 3 - CONFLICTS. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed. SECTION 4 - EFFECTIVE DATE. This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect on April 5, 2013. BE IT REMEMBERED that the above was read two times by heading only, PASSED AND APPROVED by a majority of th oard of Aldermen and APPROVED by the Mayor of the City of Riverside, Missouri, this 41 day of �2xaAz ) 2013. , ATTEST: Robin L•ittrell, Clerk City Attorney Paul A. Campo Phone: 816524.4646 Facsimile: 816524.4645 pcampo@publiclawfirm.com 255 NW Blue Parkway, Suite 202 Lee's Summit, Missouri 64063 www.publiclawfirm.com March 21, 2013 City of Riverside Attn: Ms. Nancy Thompson, City Attorney 2950 NW Vivion Road Riverside, Missouri 64150 Re: Legal Services Dear Ms. Thompson: You have communicated the City's request for us to provide City Attorney services for the City of Riverside, Missouri. I am submitting this letter to you to serve as the written agreement for our firm's engagement to provide legal services concerning this matter. We look forward to serving as counsel in this engagement. The City of Riverside will be our client in this engagement. I will be responsible for the engagement on behalf of our firm. For ordinary City Attorney matters, our fees will be $150.00 per hour, applicable to all firm attorneys. For extraordinary matters, the hourly rates will be $195.00 per hour. Ordinary matters include items such as attending meetings of boards, committees and commissions, drafting ordinances, participating in telephone calls and meetings with City staff and officials, reviewing contracts, advising on public works projects, etc.; i.e., basically providing the City with legal representation regarding the conduct of its day -to -day business. Extraordinary matters only include 1) litigation, and 2) economic development incentive matters that are not otherwise reimbursed by the applicant or project (e.g., TIF, TDD, NID, etc.) (sometimes called "common fund development projects "). For common fund development project matters that are reimbursed by the applicant or project, our hourly rates are $250.00 per hour. Please note that a matter that is not classified as either extraordinary or common fund development project is automatically considered ordinary. We take seriously what we think is our responsibility to provide general City Attorney legal services within the City's budgetary resources, just as you would expect of other City Departments. The enclosed Additional Terms of Engagement shall govern the relationship unless otherwise agreed in this engagement letter, but please note the following: • We will not bill the City for time spent traveling to and from our office in Lee's Summit to City Hall; • We will not charge the City for local facsimiles, long - distance telephone charges (including facsimiles), or for regular mail; • We will not charge the City for in -house photocopies which do not exceed 200 copies in a month; We do not utilize (nor do we want) a retainer; • All hourly rates are subject to annual adjustment on January I of each year based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The first such adjustment under this engagement would not be effective until January 1, 2015. If you have any questions concerning the terms of our engagement, or if you ever have a question about our charges, or their reasonableness, please contact me at your convenience to discuss the matter. Our engagement as counsel for the City will begin upon our receipt of a signed copy of this agreement (by fax, mail or hand delivery). Thank you for choosing us to provide these important legal services to the City. We look forward to a good and productive relationship. Best regards, WILLIAMS & CAMPO, P.C. Paul A. Campo Enclosure ACCEPTED AND AGREED: CITY Og RIVERSIDE, MISSOURI By: Additional Terms of Engagement Williams & Campo, P.C., appreciates the opportunity to serve you. Our goal is to provide legal services that address your legal needs effectively and efficiently through our office in Lee's Summit. The following information explains the client service practices and billing procedures that apply to our representation of your interests (unless you have reached a different written understanding with us). We encourage you to discuss these practices with our lawyers whenever you have questions during the course of our engagement. Provision of Legal Services. This engagement is for provision of professional legal services, and not for the provision of business, personal, accounting, technical or other advice not constituting legal services. It is agreed that the client is not relying upon counsel in this engagement for advice in areas other than professional legal services, even if such matters should be discussed in connection with the engagement. Entire Agreement. The accompanying engagement letter together with these Additional Terms of Engagement shall constitute the entire agreement between us concerning the engagement, and shall not be modified or supplemented, except in a subsequent writing signed by the parties. Subcontractors. From time -to -time, it may be necessary to engage subcontractors to assist in the provision of services to you. It is agreed that we are not authorized to engage any such subcontractors without your prior approval. Periodic Billings for Legal Services. Unless other arrangements have been made, it is our policy to render periodic statements for legal services on a monthly basis. We normally base these statements on hourly rates of lawyers working on the matter. Statements will be due upon presentation, and are to be paid no later than 30 days following the invoice date. If any statement amount remains unpaid 60 days after the invoice date, the firm reserves the right to terminate its services, consistent with applicable Rules of Professional Conduct. Client Disbursements. Some matters require, from time to time, certain monetary advances to be made on your behalf by the firm. Some "client disbursements" represent out -of- pocket charges we advance, others represent internal costs (including costs such as fees for service of process, court filing fees, deliveries, etc.). It is understood that while acting as your lawyers, we have the authority to use our best judgment in making such expenditures on your behalf. Unless we have made prior arrangements with you, we will send you monthly billings for client disbursements incurred during the preceding month. Substantial individual items in excess of $250, such as expert witness fees, the costs of deposition transcripts, etc., may be billed directly to you by the vendor of such services. File Retention. After our services conclude, we will, upon your request, deliver the file for this engagement to you. If you do not request the file, we will retain it for a period of ten years after the matter is closed. If you do not request delivery of the file before the end of the ten year period, we will have no further obligation to retain the file and may, at our discretion, destroy it without further notice to you. At any point during the ten year period, you may request delivery of the file. Disbursements and Other Charges. We will also charge you for certain expense items listed below that we provide in connection with our legal services: Photocopying We will not charge the City for in -house photocopies which do not exceed 200 copies in a month. If in -house photocopies exceed 200 in a month, then we reserve the right to charge $0.10 per page (or our cost, whichever is less) but only for each page over 200 in number. If the need for an outside copying job (e.g., Kinko's) arises, we only bill the actual cost incurred for photocopying without markup. Computer Research We do not charge for our service agreement with Westlaw in which we have computerized legal research access to Missouri, 8'" Circuit (federal) and U.S. Supreme Court databases, as well as databases for the Missouri and federal statutes, among others. In the event that computerized research in databases other than these is necessary, the actual cost we incur is charged without markup. Telecommunications We do not charge for local or long- distance phone calls or facsimiles. Mail/Messengers We do not charge for regular mail; however, bulk mailings, packages and special postal services may be charged at our actual cost. Messengers are used as appropriate to assure expedited delivery. The actual cost of such messenger services is charged without markup. Internet Usage We may be asked to use the Internet as a means for communicating about matters concerning your representation. Any such communication could be randomly intercepted and otherwise used or disclosed by anyone, including someone specifically interested in your matter or business. This could cause you to lose your confidentiality and attorney /client privilege protections. However, to facilitate your representation, you approve the use of Internet communications during your representation by us unless we are instructed otherwise. Termination of Services. In the event that you choose to terminate our services, please advise us of such in writing. We retain the right to cease performing legal services and to terminate our legal representation for any reason consistent with ethical rules, including conflicts of interest or the failure to pay legal fees and expenses when due. Our termination or your termination of services does not affect your obligation to pay legal fees and expenses incurred prior to the effective date of such termination. Questions. One of our goals is to ensure that legal services are delivered effectively and efficiently, and that all billings are accurate and understandable. Please direct any questions about services, billing, or payment status of your account to Paul A. Campo.