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SOrising
Citizen
Username: Sorising
Post Number: 170
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 8:45 am: | 
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It is routine for American and international corporations to have in-house legal counsel, then hire other attorneys for specific problems. Large corporations can hire several firms simultaneously for multiple, specific legal issues they have: corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, insurance, litigation, settlement negotiations, executive compensation, real estate transactions, you name it.
Trustee DeVaris' suggestion that the town consider hiring specialized real estate attorneys for RE tranasctions is a good idea. The uncivil outbursts he met from Terrianne Moore-Abrams and Edwin Matthews last night as he was trying to describe his idea were beyond the pale. Whatever problems these two people have with Trustee DeVaris, they need to deal with them in some other venue besides the public conduct of town business.
Perhaps his former position as a trustee himself accounts for Mr. Matthews' apparent confusion about his role. He is a village employee now, not a trustee. When residents are talking to trustees and asking them questions, only trustees should answer the questions addressed to them. There may be many historical or personal reasons why they allow someone hired to provide legal opinions to answer non-legal questions addressed to them. Whatever the reasons have been in the past, the practice should stop immediately. Trustees need to speak for themselves. They are elected representatives. If people who elected them ask them questions, they should not shirk the responsibility to answer. The village counsel should be engaged in conversation as little as possible. He should speak only if spoken to by trustees who seek clarication on a legal a question. Trustees should not expect and counsel should not consent to speaking to the public directly on non-legal matters. This seems to be a necessary corrective to the confusion in roles evident in more than one BOT meetings.
Should the BOT act on Trustee DeVaris' worthwhile advice, they should take care not to hire attorneys who have any personal or business ties or relations to village employees or officials. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 2684
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 9:32 am: |
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I believe it has been mentioned several times that Mr. Ed Matthews was not a trustee. |
MHD
Citizen
Username: Mayhewdrive
Post Number: 3701
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 9:35 am: |
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Rastro,
Quote:Board of Trustees, Township of South Orange Village, New Jersey, 1985-1989
http://www.lawyers.com/lawyers/Summit/New%20Jersey/Edwin%20R.%20Matthews/attorne y.html?a=0726-RAW&b=G1000164273A4D6083B70A8&CMP=KNC-OSMXPV&site=729
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JoRo
Citizen
Username: Autojoe51
Post Number: 89
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 9:38 am: |
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Good points. They should absolutely consider hiring additional outside counsel. They should also consider hiring an outside planning firm to help write our master plan and help pull together the scores of committee reports and surveys and ongoing redevelopment projects so that a unified vision is quickly created, clearly attainable, lodged in the record and easily available to the public. In my humble opinion, looking outside for help is quite likely our very best bet at making progress in this Village. The status quo spirals lower. Fresh and independent professional guidance can be priceless. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 2685
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 9:42 am: |
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I stand corrected! Thanks. My apologies, SOrising. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 2686
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 9:44 am: |
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And I do agree that everyone should stick to their area of expertise. Just as trustees are not elected to be village planners, a town attorney is not hired to be the expert on all things legal. He should be the liaison with outside counsel on legal matters that are beyond his expertise. |
MHD
Citizen
Username: Mayhewdrive
Post Number: 3703
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 9:58 am: |
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http://www.southorangevillage.com/cgi-bin/show.cgi?tpc=3133&post=452538#POST4525 38 |
SOrising
Citizen
Username: Sorising
Post Number: 173
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 10:01 am: |
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Absolutely, JoRo, I agree. The BOT did seem to realize last night that they need to stop piece-meal and incremental decisions. That is why so many of them don't seem to know the real costs of various projects they commit the town to. And the results, as evidenced in so many unfinished real estate projects in town, speak for themselves, loudly, to any who listen. I am glad if and to the extent the BOT is beginning to realize this. Corporations go through various phases of development; perhaps SO government does as well. |
SOrising
Citizen
Username: Sorising
Post Number: 174
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 10:09 am: |
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Its okay Rastro. We're all learning here. |
Elaine Harris
Citizen
Username: Elaineharris
Post Number: 134
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 2:47 pm: |
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I totally agree with the post of SOrising. Outside counsel is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity where you have engaged in complex real estate matters. Did anyone else hear Mr. Matthews state last night that he may have made mistakes, but he made no mistakes that cost the village money, unlike "redevelopment counsel" who forgot to include an important parcel of land in the redevelopment? This is a major issue as far as I can see. What is the nature of the mistake that was made? Who should have discovered it? Where are the checks and balances? How much did that mistake cost the village? Why is it being kept a BIG SECRET? |
SOrising
Citizen
Username: Sorising
Post Number: 183
Registered: 2-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 2:59 pm: |
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Who is/was the "redevelopment counsel" he referred to? If it was a costly mistake, the village should seek compensation for the professional error instead of taking out more loans and raising people's taxes. Don't most attorneys have malpractice insurance, like doctors do, especially if they provide services to governmental entities? |
bets
Supporter
Username: Bets
Post Number: 22869
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 3:20 pm: |
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That would be Chris Hartwyk, who was a trustee until he resigned during one meeting and was immediately appointed "redevelopment counsel." The position was part time and paid $60,000 (base) per year. |
MHD
Citizen
Username: Mayhewdrive
Post Number: 3710
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 5:24 pm: |
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It's so funny how Ms. Abrams kept referring to the resident complaints of wasteful spending as her justification for NOT wanting outside counsel.
My opinion is that utilizing an outside counsel for certain projects is not "wasteful spending".
Keeping Edwin Matthews employed by the Village IS.  |
mary032
Citizen
Username: Mary032
Post Number: 233
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 8:35 pm: |
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Kudos to trustee DeVaris for raising the issue of having a real estate attorney negotiate all our real estate transactions instead of the trio Calabrese-Matthews-Gross. That will hopefully take the real estate negotiating power off the destructive hands of this trio who have already cost us millions of dollars in real estate mistakes.
The DeVaris-Terriann-Matthews exchange was a great "show". Interesting that Matthews blamed Chris Hartwyck for "blunders that cost us millions". The blame game began. Pretty soon we'll hear Calabrese blaming Gross, Gross blaming Matthews, and Matthews blaming his predecessors.
Did anybody notice how the guilty conscience of Matthews exploded when he thought he heard accusations that DeVaris didn't make?
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jayjay
Citizen
Username: Jayjayp
Post Number: 527
Registered: 6-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 9:33 pm: |
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TerriAnn stated that since residents objected to spending [on the sculpture], it makes no sense to hire professional real estate attorneys since they cost money to which the public would also object. NO, Ms Abrams, you don't get it. People who know what they are doing and look out for our interests, save us money, by negotiating contracts which work for us. If she really cared about how our money was spent, the first thing she should have done last night was prepose a motion to stop the scultpure project, and cut our losses. But instead she took on DeVaris, who opened the discussion on the need for porfessional real estate attorneys.
And oh, Ms Abrams, you who insist on not be interrupted when you speak, STOP interrupting other people first. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 2696
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 10:26 pm: |
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It's like saying "I don't want to spoend money on a flat screen TV when my roof is leaking," then Ms. Abrams saying "Since you don't want to spend money on a flat screen TV, how can you spend money of a roofer?" |
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