PRINCETON: Council to pay 75 percent of legal bills

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   Borough Council voted Tuesday to pay 75 percent of the legal bills from its regular law firm and a special attorney who handled Dinky related matters.
   Officials had wrestled with the issue at recent meetings, concerned about the large jump in the legal fees compared to what they had budgeted. Also, officials had unanswered questions about who had authorized some of the work.
   At the suggestion of Councilman Roger Martindell, the council decided to pay the majority of the bills and defer action on the rest pending further review. While the council has one more meeting this year, the issue of the remaining 25 percent is expected to be handed off to the council of the consolidated Princeton next year.
   In November, Borough Council was asked to provide an additional $70,000 to Hill Wallack and $43,000 more to attorney Steven E. Barcan. Officials have said that in the case of Hill Wallack, a bulk of the increase was consolidation-related.
   But a majority on the governing body felt there were too many unanswered questions to move forward. Officials ultimately decided earlier this month to have the council’s finance committee examine the issue and report back.
   Mr. Martindell, a lawyer who is chairman of that committee, has raised some concerns about unauthorized legal work. As an example, he cited on Tuesday a $176 bill from Hill Wallack for investigating a citizen’s inquiry into whether consolidation could be repealed.
   Councilwoman Jo S. Butler said to Mr. Martindell, “I think if you went through the bills and you had issues with certain bills, we could have pulled those. But to just pay 75 percent as a blanket, it’s just a lack of real attention to the issues. It’s $175. In the scope of things, it just isn’t much money, and it isn’t worth the damage that this sort of thing does to our financial reputation.”
   In reply, Mr. Martindell said he had provided examples that “were illustrative and not complete.”
   He has recommended that going forward, the future governing body ought to be vigorous in how it negotiates contracts with its lawyers.
   Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller said: “I think we can pay the bill and move forward with improving our system of dealing with attorneys. And I’m committed to that.”
   Council President Barbara Trelstad saw the approach council took as an opportunity “to perhaps question” some of the billing for “inconsistent advice” officials had received on the proposed Morven Tract historic district — an issue that came up earlier in the evening Tuesday.
   ”I think there has been some concern and question about that advice, and I think this would give us the opportunity to possibly negotiate down that bill,” Ms. Trelstad said.
   Henry T. Chou, a member of Hill Wallack firm and assistant borough attorney, attended Tuesday’s Council meeting but left before the legal bills issue came up. He said Wednesday the “whatever issues” exist, “we’ll work it out.”