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<br /> Finance Committee-49 November 12, 1996 <br /> did have a discussion with the Corporation Counsel, <br /> though. I pointed out to them that the bottom line <br /> is, the money for this special counsel has to come <br /> from somewhere and if it's within their budget, they <br /> don't have to come for approval. But, if they want <br /> additional monies, they're gonna have to come to the <br /> Council for approval. <br /> So, for those of you who are going to be around during <br /> the neat budgetary session, I would suggest that you <br /> pay close attention to the amount of money that you <br /> provide for special counsel in the Council's budget. <br /> That's the only other matter I have. <br /> CHR. OSORIO: Thank you, Mr. De Lima. Mr. Childs. <br /> MR. CHILDS: A flip side of this issue just occurred <br /> to me. If this body is saying that that provision of <br /> the Charter doesn't apply, I'm just wondering how this <br /> would impact in the future, if the Council decided <br /> that it wanted to retain special counsel to defend, <br /> let's say, the Chairman of this body, this County <br /> Council, was sued for something that he or she did or <br /> said in public, it was alleged, it was in the capacity <br /> of a Councilmember. Does this resolution mean that we <br /> believe that that's out of our hands to decide or <br /> not? I guess I'm not clear in that interpretation as <br /> to whether we're making a judgment call on whether <br /> that section of the charter that's cited. Are we <br /> interpreting that it would or would not allow us to <br /> hire a special counsel to defend ourselves or we would <br /> have to leave it up to the Mayor to decide whether or <br /> not to do that. <br /> MR. DE LIMA: This is a, the way I read, Mr. Chairman, <br /> if I may. The way I read this is specifically only to <br /> authorize retention of special counsel for the limited <br /> specific authorization of those police officers who <br /> have been deemed to have been acting within the scope <br /> of their duties by the Planning Commission, Police <br /> Commission. And Under state law, if the Police <br /> Commission makes the determination that the police <br /> officer was acting in the scope of his duties, then <br /> the Council has not discretion but to provide counsel <br /> for that police officer. And, since the state <br /> procurement law governs the acquisition of <br /> professional services, it, when they come to us with a <br /> name, that's the name that we gotta take. <br /> Page 10 <br /> <br />