$37K FOR MEDILEAF LEGAL FEES

Gilroy's City Council will consider correcting a violation of state
public meeting law next week during a special meeting Dec. 30.

The meeting comes after Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy stated Dec.
14 that the council violated the state Brown Act in its dealings with
MediLeaf, a medical marijuana dispensary that opened without a
business license of Nov. 9. The city has spent an estimated $37,300
on fighting MediLeaf so far, City Administrator Tom Haglund wrote in
an e-mail to Councilman Perry Woodward last week. Woodward has
demanded for a full refund of these costs based on what he claims as
sub-par advice from the firm that the city contracts with for legal services.

Batzi Kuburovich, one of MediLeaf's directors, wrote in a letter to
the City of Gilroy that the council had violated the Brown Act last
month when council members approved a resolution in closed session to
allow the city attorney to take legal action against the collective.

Three council members boycotted the closed session on Nov. 16, saying
that they believed matters pertaining to MediLeaf, particularly
zoning and licensing issues, should have been discussed publicly.

City Attorney Linda Callon could not be reached for comment Tuesday,
and a staff report regarding next week's meeting was not available,
so it was not clear what steps the city attorney would recommend to
correct the alleged violation.

Council members had mixed responses this week to the alleged Brown
Act violations and to the amount that the city is paying on
litigation to fight MediLeaf.

Councilwoman Cat Tucker, one of the four council members who attended
the Nov. 16 meeting and voted in support of the resolution, said that
she believed that next week's meeting was solely a precautionary
measure and that the council never violated the Brown Act. As for the
legal costs that the city has incurred thus far, she said council
members knew they would have to spend money to fight MediLeaf.

"I think they're doing what they told us they were going to do," Tucker said.

On the other hand, Woodward, who is an attorney himself, said
Berliner-Cohen is overpriced and has let the council down twice - by
advising against approving some kind of ordinance and by leading
council members to violate the Brown Act.

"This is not a case where the attorney did everything right," Woodward said.