On January 11, Fremont City Council approved Rafael E. Alvarado, Jr.’s contract during a regularly scheduled council meeting, officially appointing him as the fourth city attorney since Fremont’s incorporation.
“The City of Fremont shares a warm welcome to Rafael Alvarado and will certainly benefit from the vast experience he brings to our organization,” said Mayor Lily Mei. “His past legal work overlaps with many of our City priorities, including affordable housing, public-private partnerships that provide community benefits, and more. Our City team, including my fellow Councilmembers look forward to working with Rafael for years to come.”
For the past five years, Alvarado has served as city attorney for the City of East Palo Alto, providing advice on matters including land use and development (affordable housing, residential, and commercial office projects), the acquisition of 1.5 MGD (million gallons per day) of new water supply, land use and election litigation, and negotiation of an agreement with a prominent technology company to create a $10 million housing fund, a $2.5 million traffic improvement fund, and approximately $1 million in other community benefits for East Palo Alto and its residents.
Prior to East Palo Alto, he served as a deputy city attorney and assistant city attorney for the City of Hayward from 2009 to 2016, where he defended over 50 lawsuits in state and federal court, including civil rights, wrongful death, personal injury, and code enforcement cases. He also served as lead counsel to the planning commission and administered Hayward’s rent control ordinances and rent dispute resolution process.
“I am honored to have been selected to serve the City of Fremont as city attorney,” said Mr. Alvarado. “I would like to thank the Mayor and City Council for their confidence in me, and I look forward to working with the Council and staff to serve the residents of Fremont.”
Born in Nicaragua, Mr. Alvarado immigrated to the United States at a young age and his family settled in San Francisco. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of San Francisco and his law degree from Santa Clara University.
Alvarado will begin work on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, taking the reins from Interim City Attorney Debra Margolis who has supported Fremont since longtime City Attorney Harvey Levine retired from the City in May 2021.