HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-07-19 ad Hoc Town Counsel Review Committee MinutesLegal Services Review Committee Meetin o
July 19, 2000 g a 11 SS.
2001 UG 30 P 12= 50
The meeting convened at 7:30 p.m. in the Conference Room, Town Hall, 16 Lowell
Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Camille Anthony, Members
Phil Pacino, Tim Twomey, Jonathan Barnes, Matthew Nestor, Mark Gillis, Stephen
Crook, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, Town Counsel H Theodore Cohen, and
resident Kendra Cooper.
On motion by Twomey seconded by Pacino, the minutes of June 29, 2000 were approved
as amended by a vote of 5-0-1.
The Town Manager noted that Mark Gillis is the newest member - appointed by the
Board of Selectmen on the recommendation of the Conservation Commission.
Town Counsel Ted Cohen reviewed his thoughts of having in-house counsel versus
outside counsel. He described a "hybrid" approach whereby the Town hired a full or
part-time lawyer to work under the direction of outside counsel. Through this process,
you would have the resources of a law firm, but the inside counsel could do a lot of the
work in the most cost effective manner. It also gives the Town the ability to work on a
number of projects simultaneously. The cities of Cambridge, Somerville, Newton and
Boston have extensive in-house counsel but also use outside counsel.
Town Counsel Ted Cohen reviewed the Brookline situation. David Lee Turner was
outside counsel for fourteen years with in-house lawyers reporting to him.
Approximately eleven years ago, Turner became the head of the Law Department. They
have three lawyers and two paralegals and they do everything except for collective
bargaining. Brookline is self-insured so the Law Department does the insurance claims.
Their legal budget is $418,000 with $308,000 being for personnel, $37,000 for expenses
and $70,000 available for settlements. The Town provides office space, the law library,
computers, benefits etc. They do not do labor or environmental law.
Town Counsel Ted Cohen noted that the current situation in Brookline worked very well
when he was outside counsel. They had a very good quality person as in-house counsel.
Under their model, all issues went to outside counsel and he determined whether or not
they would be inside or outside. The ability to manage this structure depends on the
quality of the inside person. In order for this model to work, the guidelines need to be
clear as to who is in charge.
It was noted by one of the members of the Legal Services Review Committee that this
may change over time i.e., outside counsel may be "in charge" initially but may
transition to in-house counsel being in charge and referring items to outside counsel.
Legal Services Review Committee Meeting - July 19, 2000 - Page 2
Town Counsel Ted Cohen noted that for FY 2000, there has been a total of 1360 hours
including the following major uses of time:
Board of Appeals - 50 hours
Appellate Tax Board - 50 hours
Video Expo Litigation - 75 hours
Conservation -100 hours
DPW site issues -100 hours
He suggested that 25-35 percent of the total billable hours would be litigation in any one
year usually handling several small and one or two large items of litigation.
Town Counsel Ted Cohen suggested that the Town could have one person in house to do
a lot of things like street acceptances, most Appellate Tax Board cases, contracts, land
transactions, conservation restrictions, public records requests, open meeting law
requests, conflict of interest issues, a lot of the zoning and a lot of litigation work
(discovery, interrogatories, interviewing, status conferences, motions, etc.). Such a
position could be part-time perhaps someone who was interested in extended child care
leave or a change for "lifestyle" reasons. They would need a have a way to deal with all
people this is a service business.
Town Counsel Ted Cohen noted that Keegan, Werlin & Pabian has been Special Counsel
to a number of communities on a number of occasions. He felt that Town Counsel
should not do tax title work (Cappola & Cappola is good and inexpensive). They could
do some labor work and SPED work. He noted that even the big firms have some areas
that they do not have expertise in and have to refer items out. He noted that someone
might be interested in the job with Reading as in-house counsel for lifestyle reasons - if
they are just having a family. The question was raised about someone at the other end of
their career, and Town Counsel indicated that could work also.
Town Counsel Ted Cohen would not recommend an in-house paralegal they are too
limited in what they can do and for not too much more money, you could get a lawyer
who has passed the bar. He expected that they would do most of their work processing
and drafting themselves and suggested that should not be a requirement it may be
advantageous not to have counsel live in the community.
The Legal Services Review Committee adjourned to the Board of Selectmen's Meeting
Room for a telephone conference call with Jim Lampke from Hull who is also the
Secretary/Treasurer of the Mass. City/Town Councilor's Association. Lampke noted that
he does all work for the Town contracts, litigation (sometimes with insurance),
opinions, self insured worker's compensation, personnel, deals with major issues which
can include beach issues, dog issues and parking issues, conservation issues, contracts for
$37 million school renovation, and school issues but not SPED. He does not do
Appellate Tax Board work or tax title work. Hull has not had too many zoning appeals -
k. two plus or minus a year. Litigation on land use tends to focus on merger of small lots.
He works for the Planning Board they sometimes have site plan issues.
Legal Services Review Committee Meeting - July 19, 2000 - Page 3
The Planning Boards ask for assistance on litigation and enforcement, and Lampke tends
to give them more research advice. Hull currently does not have a Town Planner.
Lampke helps draft zoning changes and, in some cases, helps to draft decisions for the
Boards, Committees and Commissions and also drafts tri-party agreements for their
review. There has not been much Planning Board litigation lately. They have not had
any Comprehensive Permits.
Jim Lampke works out of an office in Hingham and uses Town staff in Town Hall a little
bit but otherwise uses his secretarial staff in Hingham. Lampke estimated that 5-10% of
the work done for him is done by Town Hall staff and noted that most legal staff does
their own work on a keyboard. His secretary in Hingham works 35 hours a week and
about half that time is spent on Town work. Lampke estimates that he himself works
about 50 hours a week for the Town and about 15 hours a week on outside work.
Lampke gets paid a salary and benefits. The secretary is not a Town employee. In
addition to the salary, he gets $1,000 per month for office and other expenses.
When asked how much he uses outside counsel, he estimated less than 5% in addition to
Appellate Tax Board and tax title work. For the school architectural contract, he used
outside counsel at a cost of about $4,000 to assist with the drafting of that. He is outside
counsel for bankruptcy work - usually $1,00042,000 per year.
Relative to who determines priorities for work, there is no formal gate keeper system. He
hasn't needed one and this process has not been abused. He feels that if there is abuse in
any one situation, he will work through the Town Manager on addressing it.
With regard to the amount of litigation per year for the calendar year 1999, there were 58
cases; for 1997, there were 54 cases and for 1998, there were 48 cases. Of those cases,
not all of them are new and not all are active. This figure includes administrative
hearings. In the early 1990's, the figure was much higher and he figures that they add
about 20 new cases per year.
In response to the question of why Lampke does this kind of work, he finds it stimulating
and challenging. His family background was in public service and he enjoys the public
sector. He likes working in local government because he feels that he can have an
impact.
Lampke mentioned Braintree - they have an in-house secretary and paralegal, and Town
Counsel is outside. However, this is in the process of changing because Town Counsel
has,left. Lampke felt that the Town needs to consider the following:
1. You need a person who is absolutely committed to this work in order for in-house
counsel to work;
2. It is sometimes good not to have Town Counsel's Office in Town Hall.
Legal Services Review Committee Meeting=July 19, 2000 - Page 4
The Committee thanked Mr. Lampke for his assistance, and entered into a discussion as
to a recommendation.
Matthew Nestor felt that the hybrid approach would work with a full-time person in
house. Tim Twomey agreed he felt that this is the most flexible, and existing Town
Counsel being in the Special Counsel role would be good because it is known quality.
Jonathan Barnes felt that the hybrid approach was the reasonable way to go. He felt that
outside counsel might be better but we cannot afford it.
Mark Gillis agreed that full-time in-house counsel on one of the models was the best
approach.
Phil Pacino noted that he is not crazy about the hybrid model. It is so dependent upon
getting the right person. He is concerned about the supervision - having an outside
person supervise an inside employee would not work and suggested that maybe the Town
should use local counsel for outside counsel.
Matthew Nestor noted that he feels very comfortable with Ted Cohen in the hybrid role.
It was noted that the hybrid would be a transition from outside counsel being "in charge"
to probably a model where the in-house counsel is in charge and uses outside counsel as
Special Counsel. That can be a long-term strategy.
The Legal Services Review Committee will meet again on August 17th at 8:00 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Town Manager will draft up a memo outlining the options and circulate
to the members of the Committee for their review and approval.
On motion by Barnes seconded by Nestor, the Legal Services Review Committee
Meeting of July 19, 2000 adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary