CLEARLAKE, Calif. – After indicating at its Nov. 12 meeting that it would take a local attorney up on his free offer to assist with reviewing a lawsuit settlement, the Clearlake City Council has scheduled a special Wednesday closed session to consider moving forward with the settlement previously offered.

The council will meet at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 24, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

Two items are scheduled for the closed session discussion – conference with legal counsel regarding Grant and Marilyn Meyers' lawsuit against the city, and an interim city administrator appointment.

Following the closed session, the council will have an open session in which it will consider authorizing Mayor Judy Thein to execute the consent decree with the Meyers.

On Nov. 12, the council had considered the $50,000 settlement with the Meyers, who sued the city in federal court over a code enforcement case against their property, as Lake County News has reported.

City officials said code enforcement staff entered the Meyers' property without a search warrant, and the council was urged to take the settlement out of concern that the city would lose in court and end up paying much higher fees.

At that time, local attorney Robert Riggs had offered to review the case for free in an effort to help the cash-strapped city keep its costs down. The council, by consensus, had accepted the offer and planned to bring it back for discussion at its Dec. 9 meeting.

However, Riggs said Monday that he had not received any of the case documents from the city.

On Nov. 12 he spoke to an attorney working on the case for the city, and on Nov. 15 Riggs said he was contacted by City Attorney Malathy Subramanian, who asked him to hold off on conducting a review.

He said Subramanian “was not particularly forthcoming” about the suit, and took the approach that the council's Nov. 12 discussion wasn't proper because the item hadn't been listed properly on the agenda.

Subramanian did not return a call from Lake County News seeking comment on Monday.

Riggs e-mailed Vice Mayor Joyce Overton on Nov. 15 regarding the conversation with Subramanian.

He got a response back from her on Monday, saying that the city would only have to pay $1,300 in the settlement and the rest would be covered by insurance.

Overton couldn't be reached for comment Monday evening.

Riggs said he felt he owed the community an explanation about what happened, since he publicly made the offer to help.

“I was not allowed to follow through on any of it,” he said.

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