Point Montara Fire considers hiring new private attorney By MATT KAPKO Half Moon Bay Review November 3, 2004 It was one legal hullabaloo after another at the Oct. 26 Point Montara Fire Protection District's special board meeting. Barely into a closed session, discussing the possibility of hiring a new attorney, El Granada resident Leonard Woren burst through the doors claiming that open meetings law was being violated. Woren distributed an admittedly rushed letter to each of the three board members at the Sheriff's substation in Moss Beach where the meeting was being held, citing his reasons for the charge. After numerous requests for Woren to leave, deputies were asked to persuade him to do so and he left peacefully. Board President Bruce MacKimmie said the board was only informally interviewing a potential candidate, Harold Toppel, for the job. The board had no intention to take action, he said. "It still begs the question: why did they write the agenda that way?" Woren said. The agenda could have simply stated that the board was only interviewing for legal counsel, he said, which is an allowable closed session item under the Brown Act. "It's unfortunate the way I had to approach it," he said. The irony is that Woren says he supports the board's goal of hiring a new legal counsel, but he takes issue with potential Brown Act violations, adding that he's routinely "beating up on" governing boards that fall into that category. The board and Woren agree that the current attorney, Lee Thompson, who is also a deputy county counsel, isn't the best fit for the district's current legal needs. MacKimmie said the board would prefer a more aggressive attorney while it goes through the motions of splitting administrative and operational ties with the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District. Toppel, the attorney under consideration by the board, is currently the city attorney for Brisbane and general counsel for the Saratoga Fire Protection District. Thompson said he doesn't have any strong opinions on the matter. Clients are free to hire any legal counsel they choose, he said. Potential conflict of interest is a reasonable concern for the Point Montara board, he said. Thompson didn't say whether he felt his dual duties were a conflict. The county counsel offers its legal services to many agencies throughout the county at a rate that represents the government's direct costs associated with the services contracted for, he said. Home