By Ashley McCarty
People’s Defender
The West Union Village Council met in a special meeting on June 30 to fill the vacancy for village solicitor.
“The purpose of this meeting is for the contract with [the] Law Offices of McConn, Cutrell, Purdy and Mayes. They’re here to answer any questions you may have. We want to get this resolved tonight so they will be under contract starting tomorrow, [July 1],” said Mayor Jason Buda.
Currently, the Law Offices of McConn, Cutrell, Purdy and Mayes represent Manchester, Sardinia and Sinking Springs.
“I’ve looked at your contract, and I know it’s not set in stone. I was wondering how you felt about a yearly contract. The people that are here right now are probably not the ones you’ll see here in six months,” said Councilwoman Donna Young.
Attorney Thomas Mayes, who would primarily represent the village, assured that would not be an issue.
“I like to do them at the end of December into January so I could do [a contract] for the rest of this year and then all of next year. There’s also a 30-day out for either party. [Solicitor work] is something that I’ve enjoyed doing. I know that council meetings can be a little bit, you know, but when you get a lot of people in a room that care about a village, it’s just kind of how it goes. You all care equally, but maybe you have different thoughts about what that looks like. Sometimes lively discussions happen. We’re here to provide legal opinions and legal advice,” said Mayes.
At a prior meeting, Attorney Tony Baker had mentioned the firm could be hired on a retainer. Councilwoman Donna Young requested that Mayes enunciate on the issue.
“We have a couple of villages that when I took over, they were set up on a retainer basis for a certain amount of hours. So, the village just pays that amount. We keep track of our time, and they get that amount of work before we bill it all; they don’t have to worry about getting itemized bills. The reason [their former solicitor] set it up that way is that it made his pay consistent. He knew he was going to get a set amount of money from the village regardless of what was going on. We also have a village that we work with hourly,” said Mayes.
Based on the conversations Mayes had with Baker and Buda, it seemed West Union was more interested in hourly billing, he said.
“We submit an itemized bill at the end of every month, and you can see what we spend our time on. Manchester has a retainer agreement. The benefit they get from the retainer is that I get a little lax on billing because I know there’s a retainer. They probably get an excess of the three and a half hours of work, because I just start working on stuff for them. Sardinia has a retainer, but Sinking Springs does not, they do it hourly. We can do an hourly and then move into a retainer. I know [former Solicitor] Lisa [Rothwell] eventually averaged her payout and got OPERS. That’s something else we can explore later on if we see if I’m doing about the same amount of hours,” said Mayes.
Councilman Jason Francis addressed the contractual line items proposed by the firm for their services; these items were discussed thoroughly with Mayes and Baker.
“Any of those other than Paragraph Three — the ethical rules don’t allow us to agree to that — if council wants those changes we can make them,” said Mayes.
Councilman Mark Brewer inquired about the billing process on phone calls.
“It’s .1 for every six minutes. If it’s just a one-minute question, I’m not going to write it down. If the mayor or treasurer needs to talk to me and it’s a 30-minute conversation, I’m going to bill that,” said Mayes.
Councilman John Lafferty inquired if Mayes and Baker were knowledgeable on zoning.
“We helped implement Sardinia’s zoning. I’m familiar with zoning and how that works. I’ll need a copy of your ordinances so that when questions get brought up I can reference them,” said Mayes.
Buda inquired if there were a preference in who they would contact.
“I’ll be the primary on the contract. It will all go through me. Tony is on the contract in case I can’t be there. He’s built-in as a backstop and for me to bounce ideas off of. If something happens to me or I can’t make it, you’re not left,” said Mayes.
Council discussed whether they would move forward with the contract on a retainer or on an hourly basis.
A motion by Rothwell to suspend the rules was seconded by Randy Brewer, the council agreed.
A motion by Rothwell to hire Law Offices of McConn, Cutrell, Purdy and Mayes on a year and a half contract at $130/hr with contractual revisions was seconded by Randy Brewer, the council agreed.
A motion by Rothwell to adjourn was seconded by Young, the council agreed.
Meeting minutes will be approved by the council at the next meeting, subject to revisions.
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