HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-05-18 ad Hoc Town Counsel Review Committee MinutesLegal Services Review Committee
May 18, 2000 3.
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The meeting convened at 8:00 p.m. in the Employee Lounge, 16 Lowell Street, Reading,
Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Camille Anthony, Matthew Nestor, School Committee
Member Tim Twomey, Town Meeting Member Steven Crook, Bylaw Committee Member Phil
Pacino, CPDC Member Jonathan Barnes, Conservation Commission Chairman Nancy Eaton,
Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner.
On motion by Twomey seconded by Nestor, the minutes of the meeting on May 4, 2000 were
approved as amended by a vote of 4-0-0.
Status of Membership
Bethann Matathia has resigned. Chairman Camille Anthony asked Conservation Commission
Chairman Nancy Eaton to designate someone from the Commission to be appointed by the
Board at their next meeting.
The Committee reviewed the RFP for outside Counsel. The Town Manager reviewed the
advertising, and the list of counsel to whom it would be sent. The Committee suggested that we
include in the notice and/or the RFP words to the affect that the Town is "willing to consider
nontraditional working relationship with Counsel." The reason is to invite an option where a
member of a large firm who wants to reduce their hours might want to come and work for the
Town part-time and continue to work for the firm the rest of the time, etc. It was also suggested
that the firms Morgan, Brown and Joy and Choate, Hall, Stewart should be added to the list of
firms. Additionally, the ad should indicate in the RFP where people call (Town Manager's
Office) if they want more information. It was also suggested that we put the notice on the Town
Web Page.
The Town Manager reviewed research regarding in-house Counsel. There appear to be two
options based on discussion with Jim Lampke who is the Secretary/Clerk of the City Solicitors
and Town Counsel Association and who is also Town Counsel in Hull. The options are the
"exclusive" in-house Counsel where Counsel is an employee of the community on a full-time
basis and does work on town time exclusively for the Town. They may do work for private
clients on their own time.
The second alternative is a non-exclusive Town Counsel where the person is an employee of the
Town but probably maintains private offices. They work some significant portion of their
practice for the Town - in Hull, it's approximately 63% of their time. The Committee reviewed
the list of questions the Town Manager had developed. The Committee agreed that the Town
Manager will do interviews of approximately eight situations in both the exclusive Town
Counsel and a non-exclusive Town Counsel situations. He would talk with both the Chief
Administrator Officer and Counsel for those communities.
Legal Services Review Committee - May_18, 2000 - Page 2
Camille Anthony also suggested that he talk with Danvers which has gone from an in-house
` counsel to outside counsel and see why that change was made. It was also suggested that we
should talk with the existing Town Counsel to see if he is interested/willing to enter into some
kind of an arrangement such as the "non-exclusive Town Counsel" model.
It was also suggested that we should explore the option of sharing in-house Counsel perhaps with
Stoneham or maybe Wakefield. The Town Manager will interview Wakefield as if it was an in-
house Counsel situation to see whether there is an option there.
The Town Manager will finish his review and write up no later than June 23, 2000 when the
response to the RFP for outside Counsel is due. He will send it out ahead of time if possible.
The Legal Services Review Committee will meet on June 29, 2000 at 8:00 p.m. in the
Conference Room at Town Hall.
On motion by Nestor seconded by Twomey, the Committee voted to adjourn their meeting of
May 18, 2000 at 9:10 p.m.
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