Public Works Director Walter Veselka, left, talks to attorneys Jeff Steeg, center, and Dale Clift, right. (Mike Orazzi/The Bristol Press) (Note: If you can't see all three men, then click on the picture and you can see all of it.)
Two city lawyers -- Dale Clift, the city attorney, and Jeff Steeg, an assistant city attorney -- turned in letters of resignation Tuesday because, they said, they could not afford the part-time positions without benefits.
The move immediately caused city politicians to begin facing off about how best to handle the unexpected development.
The resignations, effective June 1, could yet be reversed if the city and its lawyers can reach some sort of deal.
A closed-door, executive session at the end of Tuesday’s City Council meeting focused on Clift’s decision. Both Clift and the city’s personnel director were included in the meeting.
But even that was a victory for city councilors who wanted the issue dealt with immediately.
Mayor Art Ward said he didn't want to talk about the resignations of the lawyers until he could talk over the issue with the city's personnel director, Diane Ferguson.
But several city councilors said they didn’t want to wait.
City Councilor Craig Minor said the council needed to talk about it immediately – in secret – and made the successful motion to do so.
"We have to do a lot of talking," city Councilor Cliff Block said."We need to sit down and find out what's happening," city Councilor Ken Cockayne said.
City Councilor Mike Rimcoski said he understands the decision made by the pair and isn't sure what will happen next.
"I just don't like being forced into a corner," Rimcoski said.
Rimcoski said that he wants to talk with the rest of the council about the issue "and see if there's anything we can do."
The city attorney's office has two full-time lawyers, Richard Lacey and Ann Baldwin, and three part-time posts, including the city attorney's slot. But one of those posts has been empty for months because they council has refused to consider Mayor Art Ward's choice for it, Edward Krawiecki, Jr, a former city attorney.
If Clift and Steeg step down, all three part-time lawyer jobs would be vacant, leaving only the two full-timers.
Rimcoski said that if Clift and Steeg depart, Ward might wind up having to pay outside lawyers -- at a cost that could easily exceed the cost of health care coverage -- in order to ensure Bristol's legal work gets done.
"Two people can't handle it all," Rimcoski said.
Block said he thinks the mayor's failure to fill the vacancy in the attorney's office contributed to the problem there because it burdened the four lawyers with too much work.Ward said he might consider replacing the two part-timers with another full-time attorney.The mayor also said that given the state of the economy, it may be possible to hire two new part-time lawyers to take the place of Clift and Steeg "that are no clamoring for benefits."
In Clift's resignation letter, the city attorney said the workload "exceeds what I can provide. The modest compensation, without benefits, and the time these duties take away from my private law practice have presented a financial dilemma that I must resolve, regretfully, by leaving."
Clift has been city attorney for more than a year. Before that, he served more than a dozen years as an assistant city attorney.
Steeg, who works with Clift in private practice, has been an assistant city attorney for nine years.
His resignation letter states that he has to give up his position with "a heavy heart" because of "the lack of health insurance benefits offered by the city."
Steeg also pointed out in his letter that some other part-time city workers and even some non-city employees do get coverage.
"I have to work more files and generate more income from my private office in order to pay for the skyrocketing cost of health insurance," Steeg wrote.
Ferguson said there at least two part-time city employees in one of the unions who get benefits, but added the city has been trying to phase out part-time benefits for years.
Wednesday morning update:
I didn't know the numbers early enough to get them in the story last night, but Clift makes $33,000 annually from the city and Steeg gets $27,000.
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
32 comments:
Tells you something about the way Ward operates if the two attorneys didn't sit down with him first, before they submitted their resignation.
This is extrtion by Clift and Steeg - Let them go!
If they get benefits the City gets screwed.
Thier part-time.
we should never have lawyers from the same firm anyhow, look how they ambushed the mayor - good riddance to both legal beagles, otherwise known as rabid dogs.
Tells a lot more about the two attoruneys...
Seems like no body is comfortable talking with the mayor.
Wonder why?
THIS WAS POSTED AS A COMMENT TO THE FIRST ARTICLE. IT SHOULD BE POSTED HERE, TOO:
at 33K per year, clift is seriously underpaid. to begin with, i don't care what they say but this is not a part time position. he's got to be putting in more than 35 hours per week (many of those are evening hours at meetings where his presence is mandatory). add to that the fact that he and his colleagues in the city attorney's office are short one attorney, so he's doing more work than he signed on for.
continuing to put this in perspective... in private practice at the reasonable hourly rate of $250 per hour, clift could generate $33K of revenue in only 132 hours, or about 3 working weeks. assume that he's putting in 20 hours per week for the city at 50 weeks per year (this is underestimating) for 1000 hours per year... he's basically making about $33 per hour as a city attorney. honestly, its probably less than that because i'm sure he's putting in way more than 1000 hours per year.
and... because there are only so many hours in a day, he's probably devoting 40% of his work day to city issues, and scrambling to get some good billable hours in with the rest. this means that he can't generate revenue from his private practice because he's too busy with public work.
so, in short, he's making $33K per year only to lose ... probably hundreds of thousands of dollars that he could be making in private practice. conservatively. even in this economy.
clift is a smart guy. he has experience. he knows what he is doing. he is an asset to the city.
my concern is that usually, you get what you pay for. clift has proven that, with him, the city gets much more than it paid for (a tremendous bargain). if the city loses clift, which private attorney will be willing to do the job if they're going to take a +85% pay cut from their private practice? people with ulterior motives or bad lawyers who can't get work legitimately.
i don't know why clift has put in 10+ years with the city for little financial gain (and likely, financial loss). marketing? power? good company? if those are his ulterior motives, i can live with that. after all, he's practically volunteering his services to the town.
unfortunately, he can't continue to do so while paying the high costs of insurance that he needs to keep himself and his family safe and healthy.
give the guy some freaking health benefits. its a small investment for the city with a huge return.
AND... call your local political representatives and the governor and tell them to vote for sustinet, which will allow small businesses like clift's to buy into the public health care plan and make quality health care affordable for him and his family.
let's also remember that, while he's a lawyer, he's also a small business owner who has to do the best he can for his family in these difficult times. in this regard, he's no different than the owners of your local salon, landscaping company, or favorite pizza place (try empire pizza in forestville.. yum).
have a little compassion. underneath their shiny suits and tie tacks, lawyers are people, too. ;)
healthcare 4 all...lawyers!
Get back to work you worthless bums. No ones selling houses now anyway.
Cause he won't talk to anyone without Ferguson at his side. He needs a human security blanket. Adequacy issues?
"Adequacy issues?"
You slink around making anonymous digs, insults and accusations...and you think HE's the one with adequacy issues??? LMAO!
I'm sure there are 20 attorneys out there willing to take the $ 27,000 per year without bennies...
Let's pull out the stack of resumes that came in when Mayor Ward first announced the position was open to the public (cough cough cough). Who knew he had only one man in mind.
10:51: Simple answer: If you don't want the job, and the relatively low pay and long hours, don't take it. But don't try to strong-arm the City.
If the City gives a couple of part-time employees health benefits then you can kiss union concessions good bye.
Ward doesn't care as long as his paycheck is safe and he gets his benefits - screw the rest is his motto.
While I agree Dale is underpaid for what the job entails. He did know how much work it involves as he and his partner have been Corp counsels for many years at the city.
If Dale could bill the 250 per hour then he should go out and do it!! This is a free country and there is nothing saying he has to be Corp Counsel. I think t is funny that he lobbied so hard for the job and now is all angry because he wants more to do the job, but he knew all of this going in!!
well, my response to some of the commenters is that, apparently, what clift signed up for is not what he got. the job description changed when the city failed to fully staff the office. that is a situation that could not have been anticipated by Clift, and has resulted in Clift doing the work of 2 people.
the city needs to invest in its employees. give Clift benefits. its a drop in the bucket.
When I see all the banter back and forth like this all I can thinks is we should rename Bristol "Mayberry RFD"
Dale manages the office: why would he be doing twice the work?
Where are Dick and Ann?
If he was granted benefits would he put in less hours? Or more?
At 33K/yr, benefits would probably increase his cost to the city by about 40%.
Hey look, it's Larry, Curly and Moe!!! lol
10:51 ....you failed to account for all the little side deals they make using their position as leverage! Do you really think thats all they make is $33k? Give me a break and open your eyes. Obviously there was something else there that we don't know about...otherwise it wouldn't have been worth their time all these years. Do you think Sen. Dodd would be a senator if all he really got paid was the standard $150k?? Of course not!! He does it for the power and other side deals that benefit him beyond compare to the salary that the public is aware of. Same goes for these two clowns.
Hey, if Andre Duval has the time to be both a Probate Attorney AND the Bristol Probate Judge...these two could have their own business too if they really wanted to. This is just a display because they didn't get their way about something that we probably don't even know about.
Hey, both Steegs and Clift could join the Charter Oak State plan if they need insurance that bad. Oh ya, I forgot-that kinda coverage isn't good enough for people like them. But it is supposed to suffice for us, right?
Don't they already have coverage on their own?
LET THESE GUYS GO THE CITY IS HURTING AND THEY WANT MORE LET THEM LEAVE AND DONT LOOK BACK . AS FAR AS DIANE GOES SHE SHOULD LEAVE WITH THEM.
LOOKING AT THE PICTURE LOOKS LIKE A FREAK SHOW.
This will give Dale more time to work on Nicastro's campaign(s)
Benefits are a "drop in the bucket?"
Many Commissioners and Board Members work longer and harder than these two and they don't even get paid.
Let them go
Guess Wards boy's are sticking it to him. this is the guy they wanted to be Corp Council and look what he did.
Ward moving Bristol Back-Ward
Dale Cliff is a joke. Everytime he opens his mouth he makes Ward look lousy. Ward get rid of him, you'll be better off!
We need Paul Harvey to give us "The rest of the story".
And Ward doesn't need Clift, or anyone else, to make him look bad. He does very well by himself.
Clift and Steeg accepted the position of PT corporate counsel with the understanding they would be provided health insurance benefits. Ward now wants to take those benefits away. Sounds like a breach of contract to me. Why not take Ward's benefits away -- his wife works at the Board of Ed and has insurance. Why do the taxpayers have to pay for two policies so Ward can get double coverage? First Ward was too stubborn to even consider anyone for the 3rd corporate counsel position except Kraweicki, thereby adding to the workload of all the other city attorneys. Now he wants to further punish the attorneys by taking their benefits away. How would any of you like it if your employer suddenly asked you to give up your health insurance benefits (and be honest)? Would you cheerfully say "sure - I'm fine with that"? Kudos to Clift and Steeg for not taking any more bullsh from Ward. He is definitely not going "forward" - he is slipping "backward" more and more. Wake up voters and get rid of Ward in the next election. And someone should take a look at Ferguson's abilities. She doesn't even know how to properly handle sexual harassment cases filed by city employees, but she leads Ward around by a ring in his nose. What an inept administration!
10:45 poster
get your facts right. Ward did not promiss any health insurance. Cliff and Steeg where here way before Ward was mayor. They knew there was no health insurance. Now they are just trying to bully the original bully.
Fire them Ward! Time to show some leadership.
They resigned how to fire someone who left on their own? Duh!
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