San Benito supervisors explore ‘restructuring’ County Counsel office

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In what is said to be an effort to cut costs, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors is exploring laying off employees in the office of the County Counsel and contracting with a private law firm for those services. Following the presentation to the supervisors on June 18 of a fiscal analysis by a contracted county counsel, the board requested an independent report.

County Counsel David Prentice (left) said his fiscal analysis was not “the final word” as the Board of Supervisors consider county counsel department changes. Photo by Noe Magaña.

Department employees pushed back against the analysis by attorney David Prentice with the law firm Prentice Long, saying if the county opted to outsource counsel services it would cost more and asked for an independent analysis. The Board of Supervisors was also warned about conflict of interest concerns by San Benito County District Attorney Joel Buckingham.

Prentice’s analysis claims the county would save more than $400,000 a year from employee salaries and benefits if it contracted with his law firm. 

According to his analysis, the county’s cost for the department would decrease from $1.5 million to $1.1 million. 

According to the analysis, while the first year the savings are estimated to be $144,000, it would continue to increase until it reaches the “full amount” after year two.

Seven community members, including four employees of the office of the County Counsel, questioned Prentice’s analysis and asked for an independent fiscal analysis. For his part, Prentice said the analysis was not meant to be “the final word,” and suggested the board conduct an independent analysis.

Buckingham said he was concerned about committing a government code 1090 violation because the fiscal analysis was conducted by Prentice Long. 

San Benito County District Attorney Joel Buckingham advised the Board of Supervisors to have administration deal with the fiscal analysis. Photo by Noe Magaña.

Code 1090 states: “Members of the Legislature, state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees shall not be financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members.”

“I have very grave concern about moving forward without this board obtaining independent legal counsel,” Buckingham said. “It is strange to me that this fiscal analysis was done by the County Counsel’s Office.”

Buckingham suggested the analysis be done by the administrative office so there is no conflict in the creation of a potential contract. 

Prentice said he didn’t believe the analysis “rises to the level” of violating the 1090 code. 

“Why take that chance?” Prentice asked, saying it was the analysis the board requested and that many employees, such as administrators, negotiate their own contracts. He again suggested the board get an independent analysis.

Another legal issue was brought up by San Benito County Water District Counsel Jeremy Liem, who said the state requires a county counsel to be a resident of the county, to ensure they have personal interests in the county’s issues. 

San Benito County Water District Counsel Jeremy Liem referenced what the county experienced when it contracted an out-of-the-county firm for public defense services when speaking on doing the same for county counsel. Photo by Noe Magaña.

“We’ve already tried this privatization model of the public defenders’ contract by hiring a Central Valley firm, and that ended up in disaster,” Liem told the supervisors. “Attorneys were not showing up to court, files were being lost in the mix between attorneys and [the] law firm, and attorneys like myself were required to pick up the pieces.”

After public comments, Prentice said the supervisors have the authority to waive county counsel’s residence requirements and that “very few county counsels” live within their work jurisdiction. He said he lives in Fresno, one of two locations where Prentice Long has offices.

The Board of Supervisors recently changed its contract for public defender services, moving from the Fitzgerald, Alvarez, and Ciummo Law Firm in Madera to local attorney Harry Damkar, who previously served as a staff San Benito County public defender. The board is exploring creating a public defender office rather than contracting for the services following a damning report of years-long inadequate service.

Irma Valencia and Shirley Murphy of the county counsel’s department also questioned whether the privatization move was legal. Valencia said the county is required to provide legal representation in all mental health conservatorship and juvenile dependency matters.

Valencia said, “To the extent that the proposed resolution on today’s agenda seeks to abolish the County Counsel’s department, along with all current county allotted positions within the Department of County Counsel, this would in effect result in the inability to fulfill the legal mandates required by statute,” referring to Welfare and Institutions Code section 318.5 and Government Code section 27646.

Later in the meeting, Prentice said the item, if approved, was not abolishing the office of the County Counsel but “abolishing in-house positions for a contract.” 

Murphy said that though the county can contract with outside legal firms, it can only be for specialized services.

County Counsel department employee Shirley Murphy said that though the county can contract with outside legal firms, it can only be for specialized services. Photo by Noe Magaña.

“Civil service employees, when they provide legal services in-house, the board can’t supplant them with contract counsel merely for purposes of reducing costs,” she said.

Barbara Thompson, also with the office of the County Counsel, said the in-house structure provides the most economic method for services in the county, adding that her position is going to be terminated in December 2025 and represents $315,000 of the identified savings.

“Most counties statewide recognize this and contracting out only occurs in the small minority of counties. Except Madera County, all counties that have outsourced [county counsel offices] are smaller than San Benito County. Many of them are much smaller.”

Devon Pack, a paralegal in the county and San Benito Health Care District director, said the structure with the Prentice Long Contract risks cost overruns. Pack cited the 2022 Trinity County Civil Grand Jury Report which found Prentice Long benefited from increase in litigation costs related to cannabis. The report states the firm was paid about $4 million in a six-year span.

Devon Pack cited Trinity County’s Civil Grand Jury report on Prentice Long’s services as county counsel as a warning of what could happen in the county. Photo by Noe Magaña.

“Total legal costs, however, were even higher, as the County retained additional legal assistance in the form of Derek Cole of Cole-Huber, LLP, to serve as Special Counsel with the task of defending against the litigation brought by TAA,” the report states, adding it estimates the cost to be $4.5 million.

Prentice said Trinity County’s Civil Grand Jury is “always against county counsel.” He said Prentice Long has contracted with the county for 10 years and recently added another four years.

“I don’t think the grand jury report should have any persuasion in the board,” Prentice said. He added Pack only cited part of the report and that Prentice Long does a lot of work regarding cannabis litigation. 

Civil Grand Juries are convened annually in each county and consist of citizens who are sworn in to serve as grand jurors and investigate various local government agencies.

Prentice said hours are “immaterial” because Prentice Long does not limit them.

“We’re going to do the number of hours that it takes to do the job,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s 1,000 hours a month.”

Supervisor Bea Gonzales said that while she favored contracting with Prentice Long a year ago, she no longer supports restructuring the office of the County Counsel.

“We are not doing the right thing,” she said. “This is a bad business decision, it’s a bad idea.”

Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki said while he understood the pushback from county employees, there are “plenty of precedents” for contracting for services. 

“I’m a big believer in finding efficiencies as much as we can with taxpayer dollars and exploring all potential options for running cost-effective, efficient operations,” he said. He added that he is impressed with Prentice Long’s work.

“I’m extremely, extraordinarily confident they would do an outstanding job as a full contracted county counsel office,” Kosmicki said.

Deputy County Administrative Officer Henie Ring said staff would attempt to complete the analysis by the supervisors’ meeting on June 25.

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