Douglas E. Coty (916) 446-4254 x104 dec@bkslawfirm.com
OverviewDoug Coty joined Bartkiewicz, Kronick and Shanahan as Of Counsel in July 2022 and became a Shareholder in January 2024. Mr. Coty has significant experience in all phases of the legal and technical work necessary to establish, govern, operate, and maintain a variety of public and quasi-public agencies and special districts. He currently serves as General Counsel to the Contra Costa Water District, the Dublin San Ramon Services District, the Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District, the Oakwood Lake Water District, the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District, Placer County Mosquito and Vector Control District, Solano County Mosquito Abatement District, as well as providing legal advice and serving as special counsel to other firm clients both public and private. Mr. Coty has also advised on the formation of joint powers agencies and represents these as both general and special counsel.Mr. Coty has extensive experience in public agency governance issues, including the Brown Act, Public Records Act, Political Reform Act and other conflict of interest laws, environmental documentation and compliance, and elections or appointments to local agency legislative bodies. His areas of concentration have included governmental organization and operation, rates and charges (with particular emphasis on Proposition 218 and Proposition 26 procedural and substantive compliance issues), public works bidding and contracting, water rights, water supply and quality, wastewater and recycled water, environmental law, real property matters, and customer services regulations. Mr. Coty has advised public clients on a variety of water supply and water quality issues related to surface water, groundwater, and recycled water , including evaluating, obtaining, and securing water rights, transfers and exchanges, water rights protests, water supply agreements, and permit and regulatory compliance matters. He also has assisted private clients who sought to obtain or develop a water supply for use for agricultural or municipal and industrial purposes, including advising on the formation of new public entities.Mr. Coty serves on the Legal Affairs Committee of the Association of California Water Agencies. He also serves on the Attorneys Committee and State Legislative Committee for the California Association of Sanitation Agencies. He has lectured on water and wastewater-related matters, general public governance laws, as well as rates and charges. Before joining the firm in 2022, he practiced water and public agency law for eighteen years in the Bay Area. Prior to entering the legal profession, Mr. Coty spent seven years employed with the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency in Watsonville, California working in several staff positions during that time.Practice AreasGovernmental / Public AgencyGeneral Counsel ServicesRates and ChargesPublic Works Bidding and ContractingConflict of Interest LawsWater Rights and Water QualityRecycled WaterGroups and AssociationsAssociation of California Water Agencies, Legal Affairs CommitteeEducationJ.D., Santa Clara School of LawB.A., University of California, Santa Barbara