In a closed-door session, the Encinitas City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to terminate a contract with the firm that provides its city attorney, and start seeking new legal representation.
‘‘It is important to note that this (termination) is without cause,” Mayor Bruce Ehlers said in a phone interview Thursday.
The council simply has decided to go in a new direction, particularly with regard to housing issues, he said.
“We need to be ready and proactive in housing,” he said.
Ehlers, a former council member who was elected mayor in November, campaigned on a platform of fighting back against recent state mandates that have promoted higher-density housing projects, such as the ones currently under construction on Quail Gardens Drive and at the southern edge of Olivenhain.
In addition to Ehlers, the November election resulted in the addition of two new council members who ran with him on a slate — Jim O’Hara and Luke Shaffer. A third newcomer, Marco San Antonio, was selected by the new council majority in January to fill out Ehlers’ council term.
Many city employee leadership changes also have followed November’s election. Encinitas now has a new city manager, a new deputy city manager and new directors of development services, engineering and human resources, Ehlers said.
Changing the city attorney — one of two positions, including the city manager’s spot, that are filled by the council rather than the city manager — is part of this transition, he added.
The current city attorney contract with the Jones Mayor legal firm will be terminated within the next 45 days and the council expects to start interviewing interim city attorney candidates “as soon as next week,” the mayor said.
Current City Attorney Tarquin Preziosi has served in his role since 2022, when he replaced then-city attorney Glenn Sabine, who took a full-time position with the city of La Mesa. The Encinitas job is a part-time position. Preziosi also serves as assistant city attorney for Costa Mesa and deputy city attorney for other cities represented by Jones Mayor, the firm states on its web site.