City Council Approves Biggs as Menifee's Interim City Attorney

Julie Hayward Biggs of the law firm Aleshire & Wynder was approved by the Menifee City Council as interim city attorney Wednesday night.

Biggs will fill the vacancy created when city attorney Joseph Fletcher resigned his position. Fletcher, who had served in that capacity for about a year, announced earlier this week that he felt it best to part ways with the newly configured city council.

Biggs was interviewed during a closed session of the city council meeting, with new mayor Scott Mann recusing himself from the process. The closed session was presided over by deputy major Wallace Edgerton. Later, in the public meeting, the hiring of Biggs was approved by a 3-0 vote, with council member John Denver abstaining.

Mann said he excused himself from the closed session and voting process because of a "previous relationship" with the candidate. Biggs' family contributed to Mann's mayoral campaign, and he and Biggs both worked on the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign.

"I didn't want to have any perception of bias or conflict of interest," Mann said.

Biggs recently joined Aleshire & Wynder after serving for 10 years as chair of the Public Law practice group of one of the largest public agency law firms in California. She recently served as city attorney for the City of Wildomar -- a position she received after being considered for the role of Menifee's first city attorney in 2008.

"We know her work, her background, and she's very well qualified," Edgerton said. "The will of this council is that we appoint her firm on an interim basis. At some point, we will recruit for a permanent city attorney."

Representing her law firm in the contract agreement with the City of Menifee, Biggs will be paid for up to 50 hours of general legal service, not to exceed a maximum of $8,750 per month -- based on a rate of $175 per hour.