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MIN CHC 1999-08-11
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MIN CHC 1999-08-11
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10/9/2018 11:25:10 AM
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AGE/MIN (Charter Comm.)
Agency
Charter Commission
Year
1999
Meeting date
8/11/1999
Type
MIN
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AGE CHC 1999-08-11 SP MTG
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\County Clerk - Council\County Clerk\Charter Commission\2000\Agendas
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Charter changes so there were a number of them, just a couple that are applicable to <br />this section, so I'd like to ask Mr. Wurdeman to go over those. Mr. Wurdeman. <br />WURDEMAN: The first is sort of a housekeeping matter. We suggest that <br />language be added that "The Corporation Counsel could delegate any professional <br />legal duties of his office to his Assistant or Deputies." That's the practice and that's <br />never been challenged but we feel it might be appropriate to put it in so we won't be <br />challenged. <br />Second item is somewhat difficult to explain and it relates to Special Counsel. In this <br />case, it's when, as often happens, we are required to provide representation both for <br />the County, as an entity, and an employee or sometimes more than one employee. For <br />example, Police Department. Under State law, the Police Commission is given the <br />authority to decide whether in a given case, a police officer is operating within the <br />course of scope of his employment so as to warrant government paid counsel and they <br />do this. Sometimes they do it in strange ways. There was a case that occurred about <br />five years ago where they found that an officer who got into a fight in a cocktail lounge <br />and broke somebody's jaw off duty, was in the course of scope of his employment. So <br />in cases like that, we feel that's it's in the County's interest, and we should argue that <br />this person was acting on his own and not as an employee to protect the County. <br />Obviously at that point, we have a conflict. We are required to provide counsel but on <br />the other hand, we feel that to protect the public treasury, we have to disclaim the <br />employee's actions. In that case, it's been mandated by the Office of Disciplinary <br />Counsel, we must hire an outside counsel so we go to the County Council and we ask <br />for "special counsel" to represent the employee so that we can represent the County. <br />The County Council has, in the past, been very cooperative and has generally <br />approved such requests. Just a month or so ago, we went in on a request for an <br />employee who was being sued for having allegedly indecently exposed himself to a <br />young girl. We felt, as the County, that we were obligated to say that whatever he did <br />or didn't do was not done as an employee. in this case, it was not a policeman but it <br />was a person covered by Union Contract and Union Contracts have much the same <br />language as the law relating to policemen. The Council turned us down. I don't know <br />what the end result of that is going to be. The Union will probably have something to <br />say about that, but the point is that I think it's a good idea that we have Council <br />approval when we hire "special counsel" to represent the County. But that's a good <br />control on just willy-nilly hiring lawyers out but when we do, in these, not all that <br />common but is somewhat common, cases where we are forced by law or Union <br />Contract to provide a lawyer for an individual who may not have been loyally serving <br />the County at the time, that we should do so without having to go to Council for they <br />might turn us down. For example, if the Police Commission required that counsel be <br />provided in a certain case and the Council turned us down, which has never happened <br />although they threatened to, we'd be in a real fix. I mean, we wouldn't know where to <br />turn next. There'd be a dilemma there so our request is that "special counsel" be <br />6 <br />
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