According to an article in the Daily Journal, Ms. Furth's Sacramento based law firm will close its doors at the end of the summer.
Now that the justification for selecting Ms. Furth as City Attorney no longer exists, it would seem logical that Atherton should go out to bid for a new City Attorney.
We know that at the last City Council meeting there was a closed session to review the performance of the City Attorney. It would be reasonable to deduce that during this closed session Ms. Furth announced the pending closure of her firm.
It would also not be surprising were Ms. McKeithen to have made a motion to fire Furth and to go out to bid for a new firm. Ms. McKeithen has been very clear in her level of dissatisfaction with Ms. Furth. Additionally, it is clear based upon the way Ms. Furth has interacted with Ms. McKeithen during public sessions, there is no love lost between the two.
I have submitted a public records request to the Town to determine whether such a motion was made and to determine how each member of the City Council voted.
This may be little more than idle speculation at the moment, however, should Ms. Lewis and Mr. Marsala have voted to retain Ms. Furth after her rulings exonerating both City Council members, there may be legitimate reason to call for an examination of how the Atherton City Council conducts its business by the Attorney General.
