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Editorials
After informing the attendees at the recent Lancaster Town Board meeting that although the town has resident legal counsel, he stated that from time-to-time the town contracts outside counsel for specialized services. For such purpose, Supervisor Robert Giza offered a resolution to contract Hodgson Russ LLP consistent with the terms set forth by Hodgson Russ.
Councilman Dan Amatura cast the only nay vote. Amatura had informed the other board members at Monday evening’s work session that he had problems with the limited language of the resolution, namely, there were no terms included as he had suggested at the April 21st work session.
At that work session, Amatura cautioned the other board members that there was no formal written agreement in place that provided for the legal services of Hodgson & Russ LLP at $225 per hour plus expenses.
At the April work session, Amatura presented copies of a prepared written resolution he had drafted to the other members and asked that they consider reading it and adding it to that evening’s agenda as a “Suspended Resolution.”
“We have agreements with other service providers, such as Waste Management, William Schutt & Associates, P.C. (Engineering and Land Surveying), and others,” declared Amatura. “But no written agreement with Hodgson & Russ LLP. We should have an agreement in place to protect the board.”
After reading Amatura’s resolution proposal, Councilman Ronald Ruffino suggested the board be given an opportunity to look it over and delay acting on the proposal that evening.
Amatura had no problem with that and suggested that the legal firm give a monthly breakdown as to what services they provide and at what cost so that the board has an idea of what’s being spent.
Supervisor Robert Giza interjected that it’s difficult to compare “apples-to-apples.” “There are some years that are busier than others; some years where we have a lot of union negotiations. And the other thing you don’t measure is if you have a hard bargaining position person, it may cost us a little more but in the long run you may save money.”
Supervisor Giza said they would consider the resolution proposal at the May 5th meeting.
Amatura April 21, 2008 resolution proposal
Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved that Supervisor Giza, Councilmember Stempniak, Councilmember Ruffino, Councilmember Abraham, Town Attorney John Dudziak and Director of Administration and Finance Dave Brown cease and desist from directing attorney Jeffrey Swiatek and/or Hodgson & Russ or any outside counsel to undertake the provision of legal services to the Town of Lancaster until such time as agreement is approved by the Town Board of the Town of Lancaster which sets forth the terms and conditions of the engagement of an outside attorney or law firm, including the scope of services , an hourly billing rate and any further expenses which will be charged by such outside counsel to the Town of Lancaster; the continuation of any such services as outside counsel for the Town of Lancaster being improper and illegal until an agreement is approved by the Town Board and the Supervisor is authorized to execute such agreement by Town Board resolution; and
Be It Further Resolved That the Town Attorney advise the Town Board in writing why there is a need for this expense to the taxpayers for outside counsel.
May 5th work session
Amatura declared he was disturbed with the language of the resolution put together to retain the services of Hodgson Russ LLP. It contained none of the data or facts he requested at the April work session to be included in the resolution.
He wanted to see an audit from the Financial Director of the breakdown of what Hodgson Russ was charging for attorney Jeffrey Swiatek’s hourly service fee.
Amatura added that a cost analysis should be performed; especially taking into consideration the hours Swiatek was putting in and at what rate. “I understand he is getting $225 per hour. Is there a limit as to what we are going to spend for outside counsel per year? Is this an open end contract?”
Giza: “Well, it depends on how busy he is.”
Amatura: “But there should be a limit on it, like we do with our other vendors. If need be, they have to come back to us to raise the limit. I think that’s reasonable.”
Amatura also made mention of the Village of Lancaster Board minutes where they recently contracted outside counsel for their negotiations and they are only paying $125 per hour. “We are paying $225 an hour for the same service.”
Giza: “You’re in a business…, I mean bargain basement or what? You get what you pay for, or what?”
Amatura: “We should send out a R&P (Request and Proposal – bid) considering we are paying $225 an hour, no other costs are listed and there’s no spending limit in here (resolution).
Giza:” I can see where John (Dudziak – Town Attorney) will take over more responsibility over time, but we sort of threw him into the Town Attorney position.
Amatura: “That’s not at issue here. What is at issue is paying Swiatek $225 an hour and we don’t even know what the added expenses are. A hundred dollars an hour is a big discrepancy. We should do an RP, that’s a reasonable thing to do.”
Giza: “Who’s the lawyer there (Village of Lancaster)?”
Amatura: “Paul Weiss." "That’s all he does is labor negotiations."
© Copyright 2008 by Speakupwny.com
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