Hews Media Group-Community News has obtained records that show current Commerce City Atty. Eddie Olivo has billed the City of Commerce nearly $2 million since 2011, averaging well over $47,000 per month in 2014 alone.
Documents were obtained via the Freedom of Information Act.
Mr. Olivo’s actual billings have been rising from a monthly average of $31,000 in 2011 to the $47,000 monthly average in 2014.
Mr. Olivo racked up $571,000 in fees in 2014, up from $378,000 in 2011. In April and May he billed the city $110,000. In August and September, he invoiced $106,000.
In November and December, Mr. Olivo billed the city a staggering $173,000.
The $173,000 for two months, at the $180 per hour that Mr. Olivo said was his rate, is equal to billing over 24 hours per day.
The amounts were based on when Mr. Olivo submitted the invoices to the city.
In an email response to from this reporter, Mr. Olivo wrote that “there may be higher amounts billed in certain months because of heavy trial preparation and work in a complicated case involving the city and a few significant property transaction issues involving the [Redevelopment] Successor Agency.”
A recent decision by a California Appeals Court bars public access to billing explanations of work done by City Attorneys such as Mr. Olivo.
Therefore there is no way to analyze the “significant property transaction issues” Mr. Olivo mentioned in his email to us.
Commerce City Administrator Jorge Rifa told us in an email: “The City’s annual budgets and expenditures for legal services, 2011 until early 2015 ($400,000 to $450,000) have generally been on track within the budget appropriations for that timeframe.”
According to online documents, Cerritos, with 49,000 residents and almost 9 square miles budgeted $480,000. Commerce, with 12,500 residents and 6.5 square miles, budgets about the same amount.
As mentioned before, 2104 Olivo billings totaled $571,000, $121,000 over budget according to Mr. Rifa’s statement.
And it appears as if Commerce City Council’s Mayor Lelia Leon, Mayor pro-tem Tina Baca Del Rio, and Councilpersons Ivan Altimirano and Oralia Reballo, minus newly elected Councilman Hugo Argumedo, are ready to spend more money on legal fees to retain power in the city and keep Mr. Olivo happy.
