Jeffersonville law department still being negotiated

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February 12, 2012

The numbers are at the heart of the debate

By DAVID A. MANN David.Mann@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Sun Feb 12, 2012, 09:09 AM EST

JEFFERSONVILLE — Officials agree that Jeffersonville should have a law department but Mayor Mike Moore and members of the Jeffersonville City Council are at odds over what the new office should look like.

Moore has presented plans that include a department with two attorneys who are each paid $95,000 annually — Corporation Counsel Tom Lowe and City Attorney Les Merkley — as well as a paralegal, who would be paid $31,900 annaully.

“We believe that will give better attention to all the city’s needs,” Monica Harmon, Jeffersonville controller, told the council this week.

The combined salaries add up to $221,900, which Harmon called a savings compared to the $239,373 the city has paid in legal bills on average during the last two years.

The council, however, has taken issue with how Harmon arrived at the $239,373 average. Further, members say, the figures the administration is presenting does not include the benefits packages law department employees would receive.

Three ordinances that would have essentially moved forward with Moore’s plan for the office were tabled during a city council meeting Monday. Instead, the council passed an ordinance that funded the department up to $100,000, which Council President Ed Zastawny described as a move to give the council time to get more information.

“I don’t think the council is yet convinced that the mayor’s structure is the best structure,” Zastawny said.

The average cost per year numbers weren’t a fair comparison, he said.

For instance, legal fees for the city council, drainage board and sewer board attorneys were included in the comparison. Those boards are going to retain their own attorneys because they have different revenue streams, he said.

Zastawny believes a fair comparison would have only included fees accumulated by Darren Wilder and Larry Wilder, who combined to receive an average of $116,000 in legal fees from the city during 2010 and 2011.

“They were the main attorneys,” Zastawny said.

Moore counters that Greg Clark — an attorney who represented the council and who was included in the comparison — also did work on behalf of the city. Further, he said that the sewer board’s primary attorney, Scott Lewis, wasn’t included but another firm – Applegate, Fifer and Pulliam – that did work on the board’s behalf was included in the average because it was city-related.

“We were comparing apples to apples,” Moore argues.

“I need to sit down and talk with the council,” he said. “Obviously there’s some growing pains. These two attorneys need a legal assistant. There’s a whole bunch of lawsuits pending from the last few years — these guys need some help.”

Councilman Nathan Samuel estimates costs for employee benefits could come in at $16,000 for each person, but Moore said the positions eliminated under his administration – including a building inspector, code enforcement officer and economic director – will offset the benefit costs for the legal department.

“It’s a wash,” he said.

Samuel actually voted against the ordinance to fund the law department, saying the amount should have been slightly higher at $134,000.

The next step in the negotiation is unclear as the council left it open ended during their meeting. Moore said he plans to meet with council members this week to further discuss the issue.