DATE: December 9, 2025
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Douglas T. Sloan, County Counsel
SUBJECT: Legal Services Agreement for Litigation Counsel
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Under Administrative Policy No. 34, for competitive bids or requests for proposals (AP 34), determine that an exception to the competitive bidding requirement under AP 34 is satisfied and a suspension of competition is warranted to obtain the services of legal counsel to assist the County, and that the best interests of the County would be served by entering into an Agreement with Whitney, Thompson & Jeffcoach, LLP; and
2. Approve and authorize the Chairman to execute an Agreement with Whitney, Thompson & Jeffcoach, LLP to act as legal counsel in connection with employment litigation matters, effective December 9, 2025 through the pendency of all actions upon which they are engaged by the County Counsel, total not to exceed $500,000.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended actions would allow the County Counsel to use legal services provided by Whitney, Thompson & Jeffcoach, LLP (WTJ) pertaining to employment litigation matters. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may choose not to approve the recommended actions, but then the County would not have access to the legal expertise of WTJ for employment litigation.
SUSPENSION OF COMPETITION/SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT:
Under AP 34, competitive bidding is not required to engage legal counsel. That is because the policy deems a contract to obtain the services of legal counsel to assist the County a circumstance that constitutes a suspension of competition.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended actions. Sufficient appropriations and estimated revenues are included in the Interest and Miscellaneous Expenditures Org 2540 and Human Resources - Risk Management Org 89250100 FY 2025-26 Adopted Budgets and will be included in future Recommended Budget requests for the durati...
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