Antioch Approves $39K Payment for Invalid Contract to Law Firm

On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council voted 3-2 to approve payment to a law firm, even though it was an invalid contract.

The contract in question was buried in the Consent Calendar, Item 0, which was pulled by Councilmember Lori Ogorchock which sought approval of a $38,744 payment for legal fees uncured under an invalid contract.  The contract was dated November 4, 2022 with Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP for legal fees and that once paid no further work shall be performed pursuant to this contract.

According to the invoices, they had several items in October listed, which was prior to the contract even being signed on November 4.

INVOICES Include:

• 3261063 – includes a 2.90 hr meeting with Mayor & Vice Mayor on Jan 10, 2023
• 3262024
• 3260098 – several items from Oct 2022 – Dec 29, 2022 including power of authority of City Attorney
• 042523.02o

The contract was signed by City Manager Cornelius Johnson to provide legal services to the City of Antioch concerning its internal investigation procedures and was signed without the knowledge of the city attorney and was not approved by the city attorney as required by Antioch Resolution 2021/26.  The staff report calls the agreement “procedurally invalid”.

During the council discussion on the item, Mayor Lamar Thorpe and Councilmembers Tamisha Torres-Walker and Monica Wilson all stated they voted for the item—which earlier in the meeting the city attorney said there was no reportable items on the city attorney evaluation in closed session. They council also never voted on hiring an outside law firm for services.

It’s unclear what “vote” Thorpe, Torres-Walker and Wilson were even referring to because the city council has never taken action on a public vote for the contract signed by Cornelius Johnson—or perhaps they indirectly revealed a closed session vote that had occurred and then not reported out of closed session.

During Tuesdays council discussion, Councilmember Mike Barbanica stated city attorney this body three separate times that moving forward with this would be invalid and improper and a violation of the municipal code.

The city council has now reviewed the performance of the city attorney nine times since February 22, 2022 and its unclear if the city council is now using this performance evaluation to have side discussions on other topics that are not listed on the agenda or reported out to the public.

It is still not known why Johnson hired an outside firm, if he was directed to hire a law firm by the mayor, and for what purposes. Its also not known if city attorney Thomas Smith was even given an opportunity to review the contract before Johnson signed it.

Antioch Mayor Pro Tem Tamisha Torres-Walker explains why she voted “yes” on this item.

City Council Recap

During public comment, Antioch resident Andrew Becker spoke out against this item.

“Why is this on the consent calendar and why are we ratifying actions already taken. Who took those actions? Why is this mayor having communications with outside counsel and then the city of Antioch is paying for it. The city attorney either doesn’t know about it or hasn’t approve the contract and it very clearly states in our municipal code that those contracts need to be approved by the city attorney,” stated Becker. “I don’t know if its investigations for the city or for the city attorney. I don’t understand why the mayor is having communications with outside counsel, outside of these chambers, there is no report out and us as a city we are paying $38k in legal fees that we don’t even know about. Who approved this law firm out of San Francisco? Was it the mayor who chose to do this or the city manager under the mayors direction. Why is he not hear to respond to it.”

Mayor Thorpe, with a laugh, thanked Becker calling it “mostly inaccurate Andrew, but thank you.”

Councilmember Mike Barbanica shared he could not speak on anything that occurred in closed session but would share what he could.

“This is an item for outside counsel, I can’t talk about personnel matters or anything of that issue whatsoever. But this is titled an invalid contract and I want to be crystal clear that I have not supported this contract nor do I support this contract and the city attorney this body three separate times that moving forward with this would be invalid and improper and a violation of the municipal code,” stated Barbanica. “I am not supportive of this, I did not vote for this, I don’t speak for any other councilmembers but this is why we ended up where we are today with this.”

Councilmemebr Lori Ogorchock stated she did not vote on this nor was there any formal council action on this—there was an action to rescind, but not action to hire this attorney.

“I do not believe in this contract,” said Ogorchock.

Mayor Pro Tem Tamisha Torres-Walker said she voted on this item and supposed to have legal counsel to notify them of what they can and cannot do.

“I voted on this for the very same reason I voted for the police department to be audited, for very same reason I voted for oversight of the police department, for the very same reason since day 1 when I came to the council and said there is corruption in this city, there needs to be some accountability because who is watching over the people who are watching over the city,” said Torres-Walker. “That is why I voted for this.”

Councilmember Monica Wilson said she voted for this because they needed some outside oversight and external oversight because “a lot of things were happening.”

Mayor Thorpe said “Ditto” to the other two councilmembers but then continued regarding asking questions and oversight is why the news was here today.

“I want to make sure everyone understands that our city attorney and city manager work for this body. Period,” said Thorpe. “They are not our veto power. They do not tell us what to do, we tell them what to do. This is how it works. This is how our government works. The reason why it works that way because you all voted for us. That is how this works. Was there something procedural done wrong here, the issue is we are providing oversight for the city and continue to do that and there is going to continue to be resistance internally. I don’t give a damn. We are going to do what we need to do to ensure that there is accountability in the city and we are going to deliver the service’s we told you we were going to deliver. It doesn’t matter who it is, whether it’s the city attorney or city manager. So we will fix this and continue on the same course, we will bring back a resolution and authorizes additional expenditures for this very process.”

Ogorchock then asked a question in looking at the billing, there was a meeting with the mayor and vice mayor for almost 3-hours.

“I didn’t know that the two of you met with this attorney. So, I would like to know what that meeting was about,” stated Ogorchock. “There is another half hour or more meeting with you mayor.”

Thorpe then interrupted while raising his voice.

“Hey listen, I have nothing to hide here so I know the game you are trying to play here councilmember Ogorchock. I know you are the one who was calling people. I get it. I know what you are always up to. We all see it. We are not dumb,” said Thorpe.

Torres-Walker then jumped in stating, “You didn’t vote for this” with Thorpe cutting Torres-Walker off.

“I get the little games. We are not playing the games,” stated Thorpe. “But I will tell you the attorney met with us to brief us on the very packet we received in closed session that you all received. You wanted to put it on the agenda, and I wanted to know what it was. Well Councilmember Torres-Walker you know I am in and out because of what is happening with my dad, you needed to be at that briefing. The second one has to do with a conversation with personnel matters and I am not going to discuss that because we are not going to violate peoples personnel matters.”

Thorpe then called for a motion to approve the expenditure.

“I will say it again, there are people who believe in accountability and then those who don’t. We do,” stated Thorpe.

The motion to approve the expenditure was approved in a 3-2 vote with Barbanica and Ogorchock dissenting.