By DAVID A. MANN
Larry Wilder — who resigned as attorney for the Jeffersonville City Council amid controversy earlier this year — is still representing the city and the council.
Initially, he was only to handle pending litigation on which he had previously spent time.
Police found Wilder in June asleep in his neighbor’s trash can after a night of drinking. He offered his resignation a few days later, telling The Evening News, “I like the people I work for, and it’s certainly not fair for people to put up with the type of criticism and attacks they were enduring because of my actions.” The council accepted his resignation June 30.
However, an accounts payable register — basically, a list of who’s being paid by the city — from earlier this week showed Wilder had recently received more than $7,300 for work on a handful of items that aren’t pending litigation. One of the matters relates to a police shooting that took place a few weeks after he resigned. A yet-to-be introduced ordinance, council redistricting and a tax levy-related item are among other legal matters on which he’s recently worked.
Only one of the recently billed-items — involving a downtown parking dispute to which the city is a party — actually relates to a pending case that began prior to his resignation. And it does account for most of his bill.
Wilder said he’s honored to have the work.
“I’ll work for anybody that hires me to do something I’m skilled at doing,” he said in an interview Thursday.
He acknowledges that he resigned from what he calls “day-to-day work” for the council, but said, “I plan to handle whatever I’m hired to do.”
Council members say most of the matters — with the exception of the police shooting — have some kind of tie to the preresignation days.
REDISTRICTING
“We have been discussing redistricting since before I was on the council,” said Councilman Mike Smith. “It’s complicated.”
Councilman Ed Zastawny said that the drawing of new council districts is related to a recent annexation — something Wilder had worked on before.
“If we don’t redistrict properly, it could [result in] litigation,” Zastawny said. “I don’t have a problem with Larry working on things that he has already started.”
TAX LEVY QUESTION
Also related to the annexation was an appeal that allowed the city to tax over the state-designated maximum property tax levy. Zastawny said after the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance approved the excess levy appeal, the Utica Volunteer Fire Department — which had been affected from a revenue standpoint — challenged it.
And Wilder was again called on as an attorney.
There was a legal question about whether that fire department had the standing to make the challenge that had to be answered within 48 hours, Zastawny said.
“Again it was related to annexation,” he said.
Zastawny said he wasn’t sure whether the council had hired Wilder’s replacement, Greg Clark, at that point.
ALCOHOL POLICY
Smith also had been working with Wilder on an ordinance creating a zero-tolerance alcohol policy for those driving city vehicles.
Although the ordinance has yet to be introduced, he said he started working on it more than eight months ago with Wilder.
“If you gave it to Greg Clark — realistically, you’re starting over from scratch,” Smith said. “To me, it’s not financially feasible to start over.”
POLICE SHOOTING
When errant bullets — fired by police at an armed suspect who’d turned a gun on officers — went into the home of resident R. Monty Snelling during a July standoff, litigation was threatened against the city via a tort claim.
Again, Wilder was hired to handle the case.
Council members say it was Mayor Tom Galligan that made that decision.
“I just called him. He knew about the case,” Galligan said in a short telephone interview Thursday.
However, even though the mayor hired him, the council paid him, according to the accounts payable. And he also helped draft a resolution that the council adopted Monday night, which was related to the case.
“The mayor wanted some support — so it didn’t look like it was Tom against Monty,” councilman Nathan Samuel said of the resolution.
Samuel said he agreed with the mayor on that point and that’s how Larry came to author the resolution.
“I kind of look at Larry as a hired gun for big, big fights,” Samuel said. “I’m supportive of us using him for the big, big fights. “Larry’s not just coming in and doing things. One of the council members has to say, ‘Will you work on this for me?’
“I think it’s that comfort level. When you have a comfort level with someone it’s hard not to call that person.”
