Councilman Seeks Audit of Legal Bills

A Pasadena councilman will ask his colleagues Monday to approve an audit of the more than $3 million in legal costs accumulated so far in the city’s 5-year-old lawsuit against the owner of the largest housing project in the city.

Councilman Paul Little said Friday that he wants auditors to review what has become the most expensive legal case in Pasadena history so the city can better control and justify costs when outside legal counsel is used.

Dale Gronemeier, a spokesman from Gronemeier & Barker, one of two private firms hired for the case, said he has no problem with such an audit. “Our records are squeaky clean,” he said.

The request comes as the City Council set a closed session for Monday to discuss a special judge’s potentially devastating ruling this week that the city failed to prove intentional discrimination by King’s Villages’ owner Thomas Pottmeyer. The city’s suit had accused him of discrimination against African Americans in tenant selection at the 313-unit complex.

The rulingmust be approved by a federal judge..