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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6 Dennis DeCuir Agreement Agenda Item DONNER Memorandum To: Board of Directors From: Peter Holzmeister Date: August 1, 2003 Date of Board Meeting: August 6, 2003 Subject: Consideration of fee agreenent with Dennis W. DeCuir, A Law Corporation 1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD This matter involves retaining Dennis DeCuir as District counsel in a specific task 2. HISTORY We will need a letter from District counsel certifying to certain matters in formation of the CFD's for Old Greenwood and Gray's Crossing. Porter Simon has represented East West Partners so Steve Cross is conflicted out of representing us. I have asked Dennis DeCuir to provide this service. 3. NEW INFORMATION Attached is an agreement prepared by Dennis for your review. 4. RECOMMENDATION I recommend the Board approve a Fee Agreement for the Provision of Occasional Legal Services. AGREEMENT FOR THE PROVISION OF OCCASIONAL LEGAL SERVICES BY AND BETWEEN TRUCKEE DONNER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT AND DENNIS W. DE CUIR, A LAW CORPORATION This Agreement, by and between TRUCKEE DONNER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT ("District' or "you"), and DENNIS W. DE CUIR, A Law Corporation ("we" or "us"),is the written fee contract by which we will provide legal services to you on the terms set forth in this Agreement. 1. NATURE OF THE SERVICES AND OUR RESPONSIBILITIES. You are engaging us to represent and advise you on legal matters you may assign to us in connection with the occasional requirements of the District. In the past those matters have included litigation involving telecommunications and eminent domain. Currently the District has requested us to continue advising and representing the District in connection with the condemnation of the Property of the Donner Lake Water Company and with regard to formation of one or more community facilities districts such as Old Greenwood and Gray's Crossing. We will provide those legal services reasonably required and requested to represent and advise you. We will communicate to the District through the District's JULY 29, 2003 General Manager unless we are instructed otherwise by the District's Board of Directors. Unless you and we make a different agreement in writing, this Agreement will govern all future services we may perform for you. 2. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES. You agree to cooperate with us and to be reasonably available to confer with us upon request, and to keep us informed of developments which may bear upon our work on the matters. You agree to provide us with such documents and information as you may possess relating to these matters, to abide by this Agreement, and to pay our bills on time. 3. COORDINATION. We will coordinate the rendition of our services with the requirements of the District's other counsel, if you so request. We will take direction from the District's General Manager, unless we are instructed otherwise by the District's Board of Directors. 4. LEGAL FEES AND BILLING PRACTICES. You, on behalf of the District, agree to pay us at our current rates for time spent on your matters. We record our time, and will bill you, to the nearest one-tenth hour. Our current hourly rates are set forth on the attached Schedule of Rates. These rates are reviewed and adjusted periodically, but not more frequently than annually. We will send you a proposed revision to our rates before putting any adjustment into effect. The revised rates will apply after an annual adjustment. 2 J U LY 29, 2003 We will charge you for the time we spend on telephone calls relating to your matters, including calls with you, your general, special or cooperating counsel, opposing counsel, court personnel, experts, consultants, and witnesses. Our attorneys may confer among themselves about substantive legal, tactical, and strategic issues pertaining to these matters, and with consultants and other persons who may have information regarding them. When they do confer, each of them will record the time expended. Likewise, if more than one attorney should attend a meeting, court hearing, or other proceeding, because in our judgment it is beneficial to your interests, each will charge for the time spent. We will charge for waiting time and for travel time. 5. COSTS AND OTHER CHARGES. We will incur various costs and expenses in rendering services under this Agreement. The costs of normal photocopying, facsimile transmissions, long distance telephone calls, postage, and other miscellaneous expenses as to which individual itemization is impractical, are included in our standard hourly rates. All other costs, such as expert, consultant and investigation fees, airfare, air charter, mileage at the IRS reimbursement rate, lodging, meals, deposition transcripts, document databasing, if requested by you, filing fees, computerized legal research, unusual photocopying and staff overtime, if and to the extent required, are itemized on our billing statements and billed directly at our cost on a pass-through basis, as a 3 J U LY 29, 2003 cost advanced by us. We do not pass through our secretarial overtime charges unless the overtime is required due to the pace of litigation or the pace of an important closing transaction. Our statements itemize all charges, including overtime. In case of significant costs, such as, for example, fees to employ consultants, we may ask that you deposit an estimate of those costs with us. 6. BILLING STATEMENTS. Our billings are calculated and submitted on a monthly basis. The billings are accompanied by a computer generated statement setting forth a description of the services performed, the date of the work, the amount of time spent, and the identity of the person performing the work. Each statement will be due and payable upon presentation and overdue thirty (30) days after the date of the billing. Your account is considered current when payment is made within thirty (30) days of the billing date. Late payments may require us to add an interest charge which will be two (2) percent above the reference rate of Union Bank of California. We will send the original monthly statement to you, at the address above. If your account becomes delinquent, we may suspend our services of a non- emergency nature. If that situation should arise and exist for a period of forty- five (45) days,we may ask to withdraw as your counsel. 4 JULY 29, 2003 7. DISCHARGE AND WITHDRAWAL. You may discharge us at any time, and without cause, by giving us written notice of termination. We may withdraw with your advance written consent or after having given you written notice and a reasonable period within which to retain the services of other counsel. When our services conclude, all unpaid charges will become due and payable immediately. After our services conclude, we will, on your request, deliver your file to you, along with any funds or property of yours in our possession. 8. DISCLAIMER OF GUARANTEE. Nothing in this Agreement and nothing in our written or oral communications with you will be construed as a promise or guarantee about the estimated fees or costs or outcome of your matters. We make no such promises or guarantees. Our comments are expressions of opinion only. 9. COMMUNICATIONS. We encourage you to contact me any time you have any question whatsoever concerning our representation of you. 10. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Agreement will take effect on the date you sign it. d J U LY 29, 2003 IN CONSIDERATION OF THE FOREGOING, the parties represent that they have executed and entered into this Agreement with all of the requisite authority as evidenced by the signatures of their duly authorized officers below. TRUCKEE DONNER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT By Date 12003. J. Ronald Hemig President of the Board of Directors DENNIS W. DE CUIR A Law Corporation By Date 2003. Dennis W. De Cuir President ATTEST: Assistant Secretary 6 J U LY 29, 2003 DENNIS W. DE CUIR A LAW CORPORATION 2999 DOUGLAS BOULEVARD, SUITE 325 ROSEVI FEE,CALIFORNIA 95661 TELEPHONE(916)788-1022 FACSIMILE(916)788-1023 SCHEDULE OF RATES Attorney Hourly Rate Dennis W. De Cuir $255 F. Ronald Laupheimer 225 Carolyn A. Alexander 165 Secretarial Overtime 35 JULY 29, 2003