Proposal would require city attorney be lawyer
The qualifications to become San Diego’s city attorney would be bolstered under a proposed November ballot measure that would update the city charter.
The changes would require the city attorney, which is an elected position in San Diego, to be a member of the California State Bar in good standing and have a minimum 10 years of experience practicing law in the state.
The charter doesn’t list any qualifications for city attorney, potentially allowing a non-lawyer to get elected or appointed to the post when an unexpected vacancy arises.
The proposed ballot measure, which the City Council is scheduled to debate July 11, would also shrink the probationary period for deputy city attorneys from two years to one, stipulate that the city’s retirement system has its own legal counsel separate from the city attorney, and potentially broaden what kind of duties the council can require the city attorney to perform.
Carrie Gleeson Townsley, a deputy city attorney, told the council’s Rules Committee last week that the language about the potential broadening of duties is vague and needs to be updated to include the intention of the council, which Council President Sherri Lightner said is simply to define best practices and not require the city attorney to perform additional functions.
City officials must also negotiate the shrinking of the probationary period for deputy city attorneys with the deputy city attorneys association, a labor union.
Councilwoman Marti Emerald praised that change.
“If you can’t figure out whether the person can do the job within a year, there are bigger issues,” she said.
Emerald also said adding the qualifications for city attorney is long overdue.
“I think we should memorialize within our charter that the city attorney should actually be an attorney in good standing with a minimum of experience,” she said. “Ten years goes by pretty quickly in the law business.”
The city’s retirement system already has its own counsel, but that right isn’t included in the charter.
Get Essential San Diego, weekday mornings
Get top headlines from the Union-Tribune in your inbox weekday mornings, including top news, local, sports, business, entertainment and opinion.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
More from this Author
More in this section
President Biden will travel to Florida on Tuesday to denounce that state’s six-week abortion ban - just days before the law goes into effect - in his latest push to blame former president Donald Trump for the erosion of reproductive rights across the country.
Former president Donald Trump is now on trial in a Manhattan courtroom, where facts are paramount, and a jury will assess the evidence and render a verdict.
Liens against the buyer’s properties raise new questions about the mayor’s proposed long-term effort to ease the effects of homelessness
Housing Commission scrambles to deal with reduced funding; governor ties local money to signs of progress in moving people out of homelessness
President Joe Biden has signed legislation reauthorizing a key U.S. surveillance law after divisions over whether the FBI should be restricted from using the program to search for Americans’ data nearly forced the statute to lapse
A recent report determined that the concrete arena is eligible for local, state and national registries based on its connection to an important period, its ties to a significant person and its association with a lauded architectural style
