Council Fires City Attorney in 3-2 Vote

The city of San Fernando fired its legal counsel, Julia Sylva, of the Los Angeles law firm Ochoa & Sillas, during a closed session that occurred after midnight at a City Council meeting.

The vote was 3-2 to fire Sylva, who has represented the city on legal matters since July of last year.

Council member Doude Wysbeek, who once publicly berated Sylva at a council meeting, said Friday that last week’s action was taken because Sylva “wasn’t a team player, she just wasn’t compatible. A lot of it was personality conflicts.”

Council members Raul Godinez and Rosa Chacon voted against the firing. Godinez said he thought Sylva was a victim of a “political power play” and that the lawyer “was never given a chance to perform and was never trusted.”

He also said Sylva was often left out of the loop on matters of legal concern to the city.

Sylva will continue representing the city until a new law firm is hired. She declined to comment on the council’s action, but issued a brief written statement saying: “I believe we have performed to the highest standard in rendering legal services to the city. There has been a change in the makeup of the City Council and it is the prerogative of the majority to change city attorneys, it happens all the time.”

In addition to Wysbeek, council members Raymond Ojeda and Joanne Baltierrez voted to terminate Sylva and her law firm as the city’s legal counsel.

Wysbeek said he was never comfortable with the council’s decision last year to terminate its former legal counsel, Rutan & Tucker, which had represented the city for 14 years. “Nobody was consulted, and it wasn’t an openly discussed matter,” he said. “Somehow, the proposal to fire them was approved.”