Merced may name city attorney
Merced may name its next city attorney Monday after a closed-session meeting at City Hall.
The closed-session meeting is set before the regular Merced City Council meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 678 W. 18th St. City staff, the council and the candidate would need to finish up negotiations in closed session before an announcement could be made, according to city staff.
Merced has been without a city attorney since December, when Randolph Hom left that position after nine months on the job. He took a similar position in Cupertino, a city of more than 58,000 that is perhaps best known as the headquarters for Apple Inc.
Hom never moved to Merced from his Bay Area home after being hired early last year. He left his $180,000 contract in Merced for a $214,200 position in Cupertino.
Merced hired Hom after a several-month search to replace Greg Diaz, who, after 13 years in the city, left in September 2014 to become city attorney in Ventura. Prior to coming to Merced, Hom worked most recently for the cities of San Jose and Hayward, according to records.
Roseville-based consulting firm Bob Murray and Associates extended the initial deadline for applicants with the approval of the council in January after the process drew two candidates. The firm chalked up the lack of interest to the distractions of the holiday season in December.
The consulting firm is the same company the city used to find Steve Carrigan, who’s been city manager since Jan. 25.
Also on the agenda is the presentation of an American flag flown in Afghanistan, which will be given to the city by Army 1st Lt. Kendall M. Burgfeld.
The council is also set to pick dates for upcoming priority-setting sessions, when the council discusses where its discretionary funding will be spent. All of the dates to be considered are for this month, including potential meetings later this week.
The council holds the meetings each year as it approaches the time to adopt the budget in June. Those meetings often draw people looking to increase funding for young people, and others who want more police officers in town.
City Council meetings are streamed live on the Internet; a link to the meeting and past videos is at www.cityofmerced.org. The meeting is also shown live on Comcast’s Government Channel 96.
This story was originally published March 6, 2016 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Merced may name city attorney."