Laguna Beach appoints Megan Garibaldi as city attorney with Phil Kohn set to retire

For the first time in more than four decades, Laguna Beach will have a new city attorney.

Megan Garibaldi, of Best Best & Krieger, LLP, will become the lead legal counsel for the city on Sept. 11. The Laguna Beach City Council approved a legal services agreement with the firm on Tuesday.

The agreement is for an initial five-year term, and the panel will have the option to extend the contract for an additional three years. Alisha Winterswyk has been designated the assistant city attorney.

In Laguna Beach, two employees report directly to the City Council — the city attorney and the city manager.

“We were definitely looking for expertise in dealing with Coastal Commission matters and in dealing with the California Environmental Quality Act,” Mayor Bob Whalen said. “Both of those are key because so much of our work relates to land use matters that ultimately do go to the Coastal Commission. Essentially, all of our city is in the coastal zone, which is rather unique. In most places, it’s just a few hundred feet from the shoreline, but Laguna Beach opted many years ago to put essentially all of the city in the coastal zone.”

Garibaldi, a Huntington Beach native who graduated from Mater Dei High in 2000, has been working as the city attorney for Goleta and Hawaiian Gardens. She earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara and graduated from the USC Gould School of Law.

“Having coastal city experience is really helpful for Laguna Beach,” Garibaldi said. “They’re different coastal cities, but they have a lot of similarities and sort of a lot of similar policy focuses. … In Goleta, too, they’re very environmentally focused and driven, and they look for advancement in housing issues, so there’s actually quite a few similarities.”

In addition to her experience representing a coastal city, Garibaldi has familiarity with Laguna Beach. She appreciates the attention residents give to the issues in town.

“I actually lived in Laguna for a number of years,” Garibaldi said. “I’m familiar with the community, and I personally like the engagement. I think having an involved community that cares about what’s going on in town is important for the city.”

Alisha Winterswyk has been appointed as the assistant city attorney of Laguna Beach. She will begin serving in the role on Sept. 11.

(Gittings Photography)

Winterswyk has expertise as a CEQA and Coastal Act specialist, Garibaldi noted.

City staff put out a request for proposals for municipal legal services in March. Seven qualifying proposals were submitted. Council members evaluated the firms in two closed sessions on June 20 and 21. The panel identified Best Best & Krieger as the highest-ranking firm in a closed session on July 25.

Laguna Beach’s agreement with Best Best & Krieger calls for a $20,000 monthly retainer for up to 75 hours of general legal services. Work done beyond that would be billed on an hourly basis.

Phil Kohn, of Rutan & Tucker, LLP, who has been in place as Laguna Beach’s city attorney since 1982, is planning to retire. The city had contracted with the firm for legal services since 1979.

Phil Kohn has served as the city attorney in Laguna Beach since 1982.

(Courtesy of Phil Kohn)

Laguna Beach plans to rework its agreement with Rutan & Tucker to continue to receive consulting services from the firm for six months after the transition.

An Orange County resident who graduated from Sunny Hills in Fullerton in 1970, Kohn marveled at the administrative stability of the city during his tenure, noting that he worked with a total of three city managers in Laguna Beach. They were Ken Frank (1979-2010), John Pietig (2010-2021) and currently Shohreh Dupuis.

“I still haven’t wrapped my head around the retirement, and part of me is in a state of denial, like, ‘Is this really happening?’ because it’s become so much a part and parcel of my life,” Kohn said. “Looking back, there’s no one or two or three things that really leap out after 41 years now. You just become a jack of all trades. There’s so many opportunities I’ve been given to assist the city on so many different subject matters. To the person who’s requesting, whether it’s an elected official or a staff member, it’s an important thing to them, and therefore, it becomes an important thing to me.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Whalen joked that Kohn would go down in the Hall of Fame for city attorneys on longevity alone.

“Nobody’s going to surpass his 41 years of service to us, but beyond the longevity, he’s been an outstanding advisor for the city,” Whalen said in a phone interview Thursday. “His level of expertise and the history that he has with us is unrivaled. Oftentimes, questions come up, and we want to know, ‘Well, Phil, how was this handled in the past?’ … Phil has all that great history and knowledge. He’s been an outstanding city attorney, in my opinion.”