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February 01, 2011
To the Editor:
The legal fee overages should be taken seriously. It’s more than just an interesting battle between our very divided village board. It goes to the heart of good governance, respect and how we think our elected representatives should function on our behalf. As Chair of the Village Ethics Board, I’d like to share my experience with this issue. On November 9th, village counsel advised us that our adjudicatory proceedings (how we deal with complaints and investigations) should be rewritten. Without this document, the Ethics Board is unable to function. Because I am aware of the legal fee overages, I do not feel like I have access to legal counsel. I am not a lawyer, but I have been writing the proceedings myself, rather than have the Board remain dormant.
Trustees Kane, Vatter & Edsall hired Tarshis, Catania against the wishes of the Mayor and apparently didn’t negotiate a fee structure that would fit within the village’s budgeted amount for legal fees. To date, Tarshis has charged the village over $12,000 for services rendered on behalf of the Ethics Board, despite the fact that the Ethics Board has been dormant for most of the last seven months. It is my understanding that the village budget allots $65,000 annually for legal fees, but the village has already incurred fees of approximately $92,000 for the first six months of Tarshis’ services. If the village keeps incurring fees at this rate, our legal bills could be between $150,000 and $180,000 for the year.
As a village resident, I would like to know what services will have to be cut to pay these legal fee overages. I would also like Trustees Kane, Vatter and Edsall to answer the following questions:
1. Why was there no effort to collaborate with the Mayor to find an attorney that was acceptable to the entire board?
2. How is it that a fixed monthly retainer was not negotiated with Tarshis that would have avoided these overages?
3. Now that Tarshis has offered to negotiate a fixed monthly retainer, will you ask that it be retroactive to the beginning of the contract so the village doesn’t have to pay the overages already incurred? If not, it is hard for me to believe you are serious about being financially responsible.
Tom Bailey
Cornwall-on-Hudson
Comments:
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I would like to add question #4 to the list:
Why was the original Village Lawyer fired in the first place? What grounds did the board have to fire the attorney before they decided to hire the Tarshis firm?
posted by Melissa Vellone on 02/02/11 at 2:36 PM
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Trustees Edsall, Vatter, and Kane hired Tarshis, Catania and then did nothing to negotiate a fixed retainer with them. Instead they blamed the mayor for not negotiating a fixed retainer. Since they took the power to hire Tarshia, Catania they should have taken the responsibility to negotiate a fixed retainer. Harris Beach is the law firm that the mayor had recommended be hired for the village. Mr. Edsall, Mr. Vatter, and Mr. Kane opposed hiring the firm. However, when the village needed legal counsel for the Cornwall Commons project, Harris Beach was hired to do that work. Why is it that Harris Beach is good enough to do this project but not be legal counsel for the village? Harris Beach lawyers also informed the mayor that Cornwall Commons should be billed for the legal time spent on their project. The result is that the village was able to get reliable legal advice on this project and it will not cost us anything. Had the village hired Harris Beach to begin with, we would have been able to limit our legal costs to $5,500 per month and be within our annual budget for legal costs. Why would three of our trustees vote against hiring one of the top 250 law firms in the country to represent our legal interests? Do they truly care about the village residents or do they have another motive? Would they have hired Tarshis, Catania if they had to pay the bill out of their own pockets?
posted by Jan Smith on 02/02/11 at 9:50 PM
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