AGENDA INFORMATION SHEET
DEPARTMENT: Denton Municipal Electric
ACM/CM: Todd Hileman
DATE: April 4, 2017
SUBJECT
Title
Consider adoption of an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Denton, Texas authorizing the City Manager to execute an Engagement Letter with the law firm of David A. Portz, P.C., Houston, Texas, for Professional Legal Services to be provided to the Energy Management Organization of the City's Electric Department, Denton Municipal Electric; authorizing the expenditure of funds therefor; providing an effective date (File No. 5554-in the additional amount of not-to-exceed $75,000, aggregating not-to-exceed $250,000). The Public Utilities Board recommended approval (6-0) on 3/21/2017 (PUB17-033).
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BACKGROUND
In order to meet the demands of the operations of the Energy Management Organization (EMO) additional professional legal services are required by the City Attorney's Office. These demands, while occurring periodically, do not require a full-time attorney. What is needed, though, is a very experienced attorney whose practice is in the area of power trading and power-related transactions. Mr. David A. Portz is such an attorney and came highly recommended to the City Attorney's Office. Specifically, Mr. Portz has participated at the national industry level in developing the standard form agreements which are used throughout the energy industry and has the experience and familiarity with the power industry and its participants and attorneys to negotiate favorable terms and conditions for his clients. Mr. Portz has been assisting the City Attorney's Office in meeting these specialized needs of the EMO since May 2014. Beyond his qualifications and experience, Mr. Portz's fee structure is competitive in the market and responsiveness to both of the City Attorney's Office and the EMO is excellent.
Initially, the legal services of Mr. Portz were used to develop agreements to support wholesale power purchases and sales for repeated s...
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