Redistricting bills already hit $63,000

Michelle MacEachern
Chico Enterprise-Record
January 24, 2002

OROVILLE - The lawyer bills for the redistricting mess have started trickling into county offices - and the total nearly reaches $63,000.

And that's with a pile of bills still outstanding.

Chico Supervisor Mary Anne Houx noted Monday that one bill - from attorney Charles Bell - includes 35 hours of his time on a single day.

"This is totally a waste of money, and I don't see how one person can work 35 hours in a day," Houx protested.

Houx, along with Chico Supervisor Jane Dolan, opposed the idea of suing County Clerk-Recorder Candace Grubbs from the beginning.

The 35-hour day didn't escape Assistant Auditor-Controller David Kelly at the county offices.

"We're asking for clarification. We basically pointed it out and indicated those hours clearly can't all be attributed to Mr. Bell," he said. The claim has been held, pending clarification.

Fredric Woocher of Santa Monica, the attorney hired to represent Grubbs, has thus far submitted bills for $46,492, for about 170 hours at $275 an hour.

As Grubbs noted Monday, the board was required by law to pick up the tab for her representation after they decided to sue her and the county counsel said he had a conflict of interest, because he technically represents both.

That meant the county was paying attorneys on both sides of the suit filed when Grubbs refused to use the new districts in the upcoming election, arguing that a successful referendum had overturned them. Eventually, a local judge sided with Grubbs.

About $16,000 of the bills turned in so far come from Bell, the attorney the board majority hired to represent its side in the suit. Bell's bill for the month of November comes to $16,308. That's for just under 60 hours at $275 an hour, the same rate Woocher was paid.

Woocher and Bell's tabs, which are still incomplete, don't make up all of what the county has spent on the issue. Despite a Public Records Act requesting information on attorney costs dated Dec. 14, the Enterprise-Record had not received by Wednesday afternoon any information on the amount of County Counsel Bruce Alpert's time spent on the matter, nor exact billing information on the amount of county consulting attorneys that Alpert said were used on related subjects.

Interim County Administrative Officer Lawrence Odle also hired Sacramento-area attorney Iris Yang to double-check on what other lawyers were doing with regard to redistricting and later to check their bills as well, to avoid the appearance of a potential conflict of interest.

Odle did not return phone calls on Tuesday and Wednesday requesting related information.

Both Chico supervisors Jane Dolan and Houx participated in a successful referendum petition designed to overturn the districts, which they strongly protested as unfair.

The new district system, called "Plan 5," would take parts of Chico territory traditionally part of Dolan and Houx's districts and put them in other districts.

Supervisor Kim Yamaguchi of Paradise, chief proponent of Plan 5, said the new system represented a return to fairness from a system designed to ensure Dolan holds office for life.

He currently faces a recall drive that he blamed on Dolan's supporters.

County voters will get a chance to vote on Plan 5, now known as Measure B, on March 5, when the positions of both Houx and Dolan are also up for grabs.