“I was taken for granted and taken advantage of by the politicians because of my affection for my hometown,” said Jeff Steeg, a former assistant city attorney.
Dale Clift, the former city attorney, said the $33,000-a-year pay he received “imposed an unreasonable financial burden” given the many hours he devoted to city business.
Both of the lawyers, who are partners in private practice, said they pushed for several years to get more money or benefits as well as to bolster the city’s legal muscle so they wouldn’t have to do so much.
Each of the two attorneys delivered a long address to the council. The texts of their speeches are here, in PDF form:
I'll write more about what they had to say on Wednesday. This is just a start. But I strongly urge anyone who cares to read what each of the lawyers had to say. They provide a context to what happened that is necessary to understand their choices, but also to get a glimpse into how City Hall operates, or fails to operate.
Krawiecki finally gets appointed
After trying for more than a year to convince his Democratic colleagues on the City Council to agree to let him hire a GOP lawyer to fill one of three part-time city attorney slots, Mayor Art Ward finally got his way Tuesday.
The council unanimously to endorse Edward Krawiecki, Jr, a former city attorney, for one of two part-time assistant city attorney positions.
Krawiecki will join two full-time lawyers -- Richard Lacey and Ann Baldwin -- whom he used to oversee when he served as the city’s top lawyer during former Mayor William Stortz’s most recent administration.
Two other city lawyer positions, including the city attorney, are vacant because their holders resigned last month after city officials repeatedly refused to hire more help, increase their pay or add health insurance benefits to the jobs.
The two vacant posts have been advertised, with applications due by June 17.
The city attorney needs five years of experience for the $33,000-a-year position while the assistant collects $28,000-a-year and needs only two years of experience in order to be eligible.
Krawiecki, who served for 16 years as a state lawmaker while also practicing law, easily meets the experience threshold.
When Ward took office in 2007, he kept Krawiecki on for months until the council rebelled and forced him to replace the Republican with a Democrat, Dale Clift, who had been a part-time city lawyer for more than a decade.
Last year, the four council members who refused to back Krawiecki -- Frank Nicastro, Cliff Block, Craig Minor and Kevin McCauley -- said they didn’t mind hiring a Republican to fill the office’s fifth slot.
But they didn’t want Krawiecki.
Minor said last summer that he told the mayor “that demoting Ed to assistant corp counsel was very bad for morale and organizational dynamics.”
“I tried to use a military analogy: you don't demote the company commander to sergeant and keep him in the same unit,” Minor said at the time. “The men will be constantly looking to the ‘sergeant’ to approve whatever the new commander says, which completely undermines his authority.”Five other Republicans who sought the city job were turned down as Ward held out for Krawiecki.
McCauley said that he considered voting against Krawiecki, but decided that as long as everyone agreed on the need to fill the other two positions in the legal office, he could vote in favor.
Ward said that applications would be reviewed quickly, followed by interviews so the city can “get ‘em on board.”
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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
39 comments:
Great job, Art and the City Council. It's the first time in a very long time that I have seen cooperation between the City Council and Administration make a decision that benefits the City. This is about getting Bristol back to working on bringing back what is the City that we know and love. All parties, (not just Dems and Republicans)working to get our City on the map again.
Wow. Just wow. After reading these letters all I can say is you stay classy Bristol!
I am glad Steve posted these letters. I always wondered why two guys who had the appearance of being very intelligent would demand benefits in this economy. Its nice to know the "other side of the story" and that their supposed demands were rather exaggerated.
Shame on all those involved, including the Personnel Director, for not addressing these issues in a manner that they required. Definitely the city's loss, and makes you wonder what else is "broken" at City Hall and in need of an overhaul.
I bet Ellen Zoppo scripted the letters by the 2 attorneys in order to make Art Ward look bad.
no one on that council has a mind of their own. art ward says jump and they say how high.
Wow!
Ward gets praise for getting his own people to go along with him.
Surprising that he gets anyone to go along with his methods.
Thanks for putting the letters here. I feel much better about Dale and Jeff after reading them.
Nowhere will the City find the talent and professionalism of Dale Clift for $33,000 per year. What will poor legal advice cost the City in terms of verdicts, settlements and lawsuits? Or will we just continue to pay outside counsel from large firms $500 or $600 per hour?
Steeg and Clift . . . I wish you could see the two tiny violins I am playing for you right now. Pathetic, the two of you to stand up and whine in front of the City Council.
I went to the council meeting last night and listened to these men make their addresses to the council and the mayor.
If you think that their letters are revealing, you should have been at the meeting last night, where I observed:
That both Clift and Steeg appeared credible and spoke from the heart;
That Ann Baldwin, full time city attorney, shook her head and rolled her eyes when Clift suggested that she and Dick Lacey required supervision, and that the time of all city attorneys should be accounted for;
That Councilor Cockayne wore a very nasty smirk on his face as these men spoke; and
That although the City can't scratch together enough money to fully staff and support the city attorney's office, and though a number of public employees are being furloughed and laid off, the Council nevertheless voted to give Ann Baldwin an extra 10 days of paid vacation this year, without any discussion.
Now, I don't personally know any of the people in the city attorney's office, but I can tell you that the meeting did not run as smoothly as usual last night, in large part because Ann Baldwin was filling in for Clift.
The city allowed Baldwin to carry over the 10 vacation days because she agreed to delay her vacation, scheduled for this month, because of the shortage of attorneys at the moment.
steeg and clift looked like two little kids trying to justify their mistakes in trying to badger the mayor and city council. thank god that the mayor and council saw through the charade and accepted their resignations - the city is better off without these two smucks.
Everyone knows Ann Baldwin gets what she wants, because she is Nicastro's woman (rug).
Steve and Dale were thrown under the bus by the Mayor. Ward likes to put dirt on other people in order to make himself look good.
If he handles this like a man it wouldn't have gone this far or bad.
Mayor Ward should be the one leaving.
Mayor and Council do nothing for 2 years, table ideas, etc...and they blame the very smae people for trying to take the city for a ride. Sounds to me as if the Mayor and council are sucking off the system and using talent of good people. Ward is use to using people or blaming them for his lack of leadership and morales.
Billy
McCauley said that he considered voting against Krawiecki, but decided that as long as everyone agreed on the need to fill the other two positions in the legal office, he could vote in favor.
MCCAULEY SURE SOUNDS LIKE HIS PUPPET STRINGS WERE PULLED, ONCE AGAIN.
Quick someone get Jeff a tissue!
Opps..I mean Attorney Steeg.
10:17 - Billy (goat)
There are some real disfunctions here and they keep popping up on other issues too, the one I am going to mention here is the Personnel Director. Who supervises her and who is monitoring whether she is doing her job? Seems like a lot of stuff is falling through the cracks or being shoved under the carpet.
Thanks for putting the letters up, Steve. They say it all.
Diane answers to the Mayor, plus the woman has no spine. A great number of issues have been swept under the carpet, but she does like to make waves. I am sure she told the Mayor, but he would keep things hushed too - because afterall its on his watch.
Maybe Stortz wasn't so bad after all!
The City need a full time Corp Counsel
The most interesting highlight that came out of the resignation letters is that our newly appointed city attorney, Ed Krawiecki, actually went on record as suporting their request and issues with the Corp Counsel office in the past. He apparently agrees whole heartedly with the attorney's issues and requests, yet he was appointed to the position at the same salary anyway. Bad decision. Ed's law firm is much busier than Clift and Steeg's. If they could not handle the work load, how can Ed possibly handle it? This will definately cost the city more money in the long run by out-sourcing a lot of work to private attorney's. It would be interesting to read exactly how much the city did pay for outside legal representation last year. I'll bet when the personalities and dust settles, it would have been much cheaper for the city to keep everything in house and increase the salaries and pay benifits. Unfortunately, personalities and political affiliation often gets in the way of sound, rational financial decision making.
Ed K. can handle it because his wife works full time at city hall and gets gold plated union benefits for health insurance and retirement.
Stortz once again, you weren't bad...you were and are the worst.
12:40
The city has TWO fulltime Corporation Counsels.
The last change of Administrations handled the legal position changes much more smoothly.
2:43 poster,
Ed K was corp council WAY before his wife got the job at city hall. He can handle it because he's a man and unlike you union boy's accually works for living and doesn't sit around waiting for handouts.
Don't worry, Ed will do very well for himself.
He always has.
10:40 has a valid point. And this is exactly why we need a Town Manager!!
3:26
Actually his wife worked at city hall before ed was corp counsel;
she moved UP when klapatch retired.
Attorney Clift and Attorney Steeg were gentlemen in their letters. They could have revealed so much more!
Is anyone wondering why Councilman Nicastro flip-flopped on the Krawiecki appointment? When is Attorney Baldwin scheduled for reappointment? Think about it for a while.
Those two former town attorneys are such whiners. I don't blame Baldwin one bit for rolling her eyes when they said she needed supervision. Give me a break! What would anyone do if two former associates who had been let go started badmouthing them? Those two can't take rejection.
Krawiecki will be great for the city; I am very glad we have his expertise.
6:04 poster,
You are wrong. Ed has been corp council for years during the Stortz admin. and some of Wards. Then he left and now he has come back.
There for he was corp council WAY before his wife got the job and didnt cry about not having benefits.
BTW. I wonder if people in city hall call him Attorney Krawiecki or Ed? He may quit if they dont call him attorney.
it almost sounds like business is slow at their practice and they tried to corner the city and it back - fired.
Check to see when his wife was deputy registrar!
with any luck, the city will be rid of Nicastro (finally) and Baldwin in quick succession next year
Should check to be sure the Mayor isn't checking out Krawiecki's wife.
Maybe now Krawiecki can get his road repaved: what a mess!
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