The Chico City Council Tuesday rehired the law firm Alvarez-Glasman & Colvin (AGC) to take over city attorney services.
The move comes after the council decided to terminate its contract with Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley last month.
Council member Alex Brown criticized the move back to AGC, which last provided city attorney services around January 2020.
Brown said she believes the move is based in part on council members’ personal preferences for policy approaches.
“AGC is the same firm that banned all cannabis activity in the city of Chico and many other cities,” Brown said. “The same firm that wrote some of the most archaic anti-homelessness legislation in existence. And the same firm that sued its own council member and cost the city taxpayers thousands and thousands of dollars in the process.”
The council voted 5-2 to enter an agreement with AGC, with council members Andrew Coolidge, Kasey Reynolds, Sean Morgan, Deepika Tandon and Kami Denlay in favor.
They didn’t provide reasons for contracting with a new firm during Tuesday’s council meeting.