Turlock hires interim city attorney. Why did his politics come into question?
A divided Turlock City Council on Tuesday hired George Petrulakis as interim city attorney, despite concerns raised about his political involvement and experience in land use instead of municipal law.
The council approved a contract with his firm Petrulakis Law & Advocacy, with Mayor Amy Bublak and Council Members Pam Franco and Rebecka Monez in the 3-2 majority. Petrulakis is set to begin working Monday, after outgoing City Attorney Doug White’s resignation becomes effective Sunday.
Longtime Turlock resident Jeani Ferrari and former Mayor Brad Bates called attention to Petrulakis’s lack of municipal law experience in public comments. Ferrari also questioned whether Petrulakis can give objective legal advice given his political activity in Stanislaus County.
Petrulakis worked as a political strategist for former Modesto Mayor Ted Brandvold’s 2016 mayoral campaign, Petrulakis confirmed to The Bee. Among other Republican-leaning officials and candidates, Petrulakis donated to were former Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson in the 2010 election and Brett McBay’s bid for the Modesto City Schools board in the 2013 election.
“In what has become a very divided political community, it is more important than ever to work with a public servant who is not involved with partisan politics, and doesn’t come with a political agenda,” Ferrari said. “It would be highly irregular to hire George Petrulakis given his client list and extensive political activity in our county. This, coming on the heels of circumspect special meetings and a complete lack of transparency, is very concerning.”
The council has held six special city council meetings in the last two months, including a Jan. 7 meeting during which they announced White’s resignation and placing City Manager Toby Wells on investigatory leave. Bublak told The Bee she does not see Petrulakis’s political activity as a problem, adding how she has no issue with how Petrulakis supported one of her opponents in the 2018 mayoral election. The city’s lawyer handling human resources issues also examined any potential conflicts of interest Petrulakis has, Bublak said.
“If there were any tells that told me that he wasn’t going to be ethical and serve our city in its totality, I wouldn’t have voted yes,” Bublak said.
Petrulakis said he understands the concern, but any lawyer who practices in a professional manner is unbiased. While working as interim city attorney, Petrulakis said he will not donate to any political candidates for the City of Turlock. He added he is not currently hired as a consultant for any political official.
The contract for legal services the council approved Tuesday also includes an agreement that the city and Petrulakis will evaluate his pay within 60 days. The contract differs from White’s in several aspects, including Petrulakis charging $300 per hour for general legal services versus White’s about $30,000 monthly retainer fee for the first 155 hours of such services. The reassessment provision is meant to ensure the city gets cost-effective legal services in the transition, Petrulakis said.
Even with the city attorney change, the city expects to stay within its legal budget for the rest of this fiscal year, Acting City Manager Gary Hampton wrote in a staff report. White told The Bee his law firm charged about $195 per hour for the monthly retainer hours because of a 1.1% increase to the rates in the initial March 2019 contract accounting for cost of living rising. After the retainer hours, his firm charged about $197 per hour for general legal services, still below Petrulakis’s fees.
To advise the council during a three-hour-long council meeting, Petrulakis is set to charge the city $900 versus how White charged about $600 at most. White’s firm also charged about $250 per hour for special counsel legal services such as enterprise funds, a separate category for which Petrulakis does not have a different rate, however. Both charged and are set to charge the city about $350 per hour for reimbursable services, which include developer-funded land use projects.
For the 2019-2020 fiscal year, White said his law firm charged $415,000 for general legal services, which was over the city’s initial budget by $15,000 or about 4%. His firm went over the monthly retainer hours every month of the 2020 calendar year, Franco said during the meeting.
The council did not interview any other firms besides Petrulakis Law & Advocacy for interim city attorney services, Bublak said. It was the council’s responsibility to come up with potential candidates, Bublak added, and Petrulakis’s name was the only one provided within the time limits. When the city hires more human resource staff, Bublak said they can search for someone to fill the job and other currently interim director positions on a permanent basis.
Bublak further welcomed Petrulakis and said she suspects he is a quick learner.
“This is an opportunity for Turlock to grow with a different perspective and understanding of law,” Bublak said. “So, I’m really excited because I think that this will bring so many new enhancements for Turlock.”
