The Anaheim City Council Tuesday will consider appointing Arturo N. Fierro, the father of Councilman Jordan Brandman’s campaign manager and policy aide, as city attorney for a six-month interim period.
Council members were scheduled to vote on appointing Fierro to the permanent position at their Oct. 18 meeting, but tabled the item with no explanation.
If council members approve Fierro’s contract Tuesday, he would serve as interim city attorney from November 4, 2016 until May 4, 2017 and receive a salary of $8,100 every two weeks, or about $101,250 over the six-month period, according to a city staff report.
At least one council member, Mayor Tom Tait, said he would oppose filling the position until the new city council is sworn in after the November election.
Several members of the public also raised questions at the Oct. 18 meeting about Arturo Fierro’s relation to Brandman’s two policy aides, Daniel Fierro and his wife Felicia.
“I’m having a hard time believing that of the entire applicant pool for city attorney that the father of Brandman’s campaign manager was the best applicant,” said Sandra Angel, a resident who is also running for the District 5 city council seat.
Brandman, meanwhile, has said that Fierro was selected for no other reason than his 26 years of experience a municipal attorney.
Tait also expressed concern with the fact that Fierro was representing a client who is suing the city of Anaheim for a personal injury when the council was considering his appointment.
That case was assigned a new attorney, Fierro’s former colleague Jimmy Gutierrez, on Oct. 18, according to court records.
Fierro is the former assistant city attorney in the City of Chino, where he was legal counsel to the planning commission. He has also served as a contract city attorney for the cities of Coachella in Riverside County and Cudahy in Los Angeles County.
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