San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG), the county’s transportation commission, on April 4 named  Sacramento City Attorney Eileen Teichert as its first general counsel.
The hiring of Teichert as the agency’s in-house lawyer ends its traditional practice of relying upon the county’s stable of attorneys, known as county counsel, for legal advice and services.
SANBAG’s 29-member board consists of a mayor or council member from each of the county’s 24 incorporated cities and all five county  supervisors.
Despite the overlap, a major legal conflict has developed between SANBAG and the county as a consequence of a lawsuit the county filed over its 2006 payment of $102 million to the Colonies Partners’s lawsuit  against the county over flood control issues at the Colonies at San Antonio development in Upland. Those flood control issues were complicated by the placement of the 210 Freeway across the Colonies Partners’ property and the county wants SANBAG and the California Department of Transportation to cover a portion of that settlement cost, having launched the lawsuit to make that recovery.
Teichert, who has been with the city of Sacramento since 2006, was previously a deputy city attorney in Riverside. The SANBAG board last year resolved to hire its own attorney and Teichert was chosen for the $200,000 per year position after a 90-day recruitment effort. She is s expected to aggressively represent the agency in defending SANBAG’s position with regard to the suit.