Brizuela v. City of Sparks

In July 2018, Sparks Police Officers were involved in a shooting that resulted in the death of Rolando Brizuela. In November 2019, the wife of Mr. Brizuela, Rosa Brizuela (Plaintiff), filed a lawsuit regarding her husband's death, naming the City of Sparks and several "Does" as defendants. Plaintiff recently amended the lawsuit to name the involved officers as defendants, as well. That lawsuit is currently pending in United States District Court for the District of Nevada as Brizuela v. City of Sparks, Case No. 3:19-cv-00692-MMD-WGC. The case is in the initial stages of litigation.

Assembly Bill 70

The 2019 Nevada Legislature enacted Assembly Bill (AB) 70, which amended Nevada's Open Meeting Law. Section 2.5 of AB 70 provides:

A public body may delegate authority to the chair or the executive director of the public body, or an equivalent position, to make any decision regarding litigation concerning any action or proceeding in which the public body or any member or employee of the public body is a party in an official capacity or participates or intervenes in an official capacity.

As applied to the City of Sparks, AB 70 § 2.5 allows the City Council to delegate decision-making authority regarding litigation to either the Mayor (as chair) or the City Manager (as executive director). AB 70 became effective on October 1, 2019.

If the City Council delegates its decision-making authority regarding the litigation to the City Manager, the City Manager would be able to make decisions on behalf of the City, but not the Officers or others who may be named as defendants in the future. Delegating this authority will allow for decisions to be made quickly by the City Manager rather than waiting for a regularly scheduled City Council meeting or scheduling a special meeting. The ability to make decisions more quickly will protect the City's interests in meeting deadlines set by the Court and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Sparks Municipal Code (SMC) 2.27.030(A) authorizes the City Manager to "settle claims up to a maximum amount of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00)." At this early stage of the litigation, the City Attorney's Office does not recommend that City Council delegate settlement authority beyond the terms of SMC 2.27.030(A) to the City Manager. However, the City Attorney's Office does recommend that City Council delegate to the City Manager authority to make all other decisions for the City in the Brizuela matter.

1. Council may choose to delegate decision-making authority regarding the Brizuela litigation to the City Manager, subject to the limitations in SMC 2.27.030(A), as recommended by the City Attorney's Office.

2. Council may choose not to delegate decision-making authority to the City Manager.

3. Council may choose to delegate all decision-making authority to the City Manager, including settlement authority beyond the terms of SMC 2.27.030(A).

I move to delegate authority to the City Manager to make any decision regarding the litigation currently pending as Brizuela v. City of Sparks, subject to the limitations of SMC 2.27.030.