Legal bills have mounted since Chief Don Mette took over as chief for Rick Martinez at the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District in 2005.
He hired Richard Margarita, a former Sacramento County prosecutor, as general counsel. And the department investigated dozens of employees for alleged misconduct and terminated several of them. Some fought back.
The legal services tab for 2007-2008 was $260,000, of which $250,000 was for outside legal services, Metro Fire budget documents and legal bills show.
That's up from the 2003-2004 budget year, when Martinez was chief. That year, legal services cost $5,146, documents show.
Who enjoyed the legal largesse? Attorneys at big law firms such as Mayers Nave (rates $200 to 250 an hour) and Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard ($250 to $275 an hour), according to legal invoices obtained under the state Public Records Act.
Margarita said Mette "inherited issues and significant problems" not of his making and dealt with them "accordingly and appropriately."
Metro Fire was sued for wrongful termination and rights violations by four former employees: Capt. Mark Thomsen, Deputy Chief Teresa Means-Ferguson and her assistant Irene Yslas, and Deputy Chief George Appel. Appel and Means-Ferguson have enjoyed partial victories that may cost ratepayers $400,000 or more. The Thomsen and Yslas cases remain before the courts.
This means legal bills won't shrink anytime soon. But Margarita said legal bills aren't a good measure of public performance. "We get maybe one or two customer complaints a year out of 78,000 calls," he said. "No taxi cab driver has that kind of record. We have great people out there."
– Andrew McIntosh. Send tips to moneytrail@sacbee.com
Beware telephone pitches for car warranty extensions
ON YOUR GUARD
Unsolicited telephone callers in the Sacramento region are pushing unwanted, possibly phony goods: new car warranties.
The Better Business Bureau in Sacramento has gotten complaints about phone callers attempting to sell extensions to auto warranties, said Barry Goggin, the local president.
The caller asks for the vehicle identification number, make and model, and a credit card number to pay for the warranty. The rate for one consumer was $160 down and $78.61 for 18 months, Goggin said.
Goggin said the telephone solicitors are not associated with the automobile manufacturers and, in some cases, the warranties are unnecessary if you already have a high-mileage warranty.
The Missouri Attorney General's Office has filed lawsuits in the scam. Consumers, sometimes the elderly, were ripped off through the mail by the same come-on.
Goggin's advice: Don't accept those kinds of calls.
– M.S. Enkoji. Send tips to publiceye@sacbee.com
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