The city is facing another cost overrun related to the Downtown Police Headquarters project.
A new report says in order to sue over deficiencies with the building, the city's legal department needs an over expenditure of $270,000.
If approved the city wants to hire law firm Marr Finlayson Pollock.
The report estimates all external legal fees could total up to $425,000.
Mayor Brian Bowman says he supports the move, saying this term of council has had to clean up the mess from the scandal-plagued project.
The city filed a statement of claim in May followed by a statement of defence and counterclaim from the contractor.
None of the allegations contained in the court filings have been tested in court.
The project is tens of millions of dollars over budget and is the subject of an RCMP fraud investigation.
