The retirement of longtime city lawyer Ann Baldwin leaves a gaping hole in the city attorney’s office.
Baldwin, a 32-year veteran, was one of two full-time attorneys working for the city.
Her departure means the city has to get by without a corporation counsel – the part-timer who’s supposed to run the office – as well as half its full-time staff.
There are also two part-time assistant city attorneys – and another part-time slot that's vacant.
Mayor Art Ward said Monday he’s “looking through some of the resumes that applied previously and I hope to have some decisions made by the December City Council meeting so we can fill those positions.”
Ward said he plans to fill the slot that Baldwin has held as well as the city attorney’s position.
So far, he said, the office has been getting by without the other part-timer so as long as money is short, the city will try to get by without filling it.
The city attorney’s job has remained vacant since June, when Dale Clift resigned from the part-time post because it was gobbling up too much of his attention and crimping his private practice.
Finding a successor to Baldwin will be tough, city officials said.
Ward said she always did her job “with the utmost professionalism.”
Former Mayor Frank Nicastro, who relied heavily on Baldwin’s advice, said that Baldwin “was right there for us” whenever an issue needed to be resolved.
He said she was the sort of lawyer who didn’t hesitate to speak up.
“I’d say, ‘Why can’t I? I’m the mayor,’” Nicastro said, and then Baldwin would carefully explain the legalities of why he couldn’t do whatever it was he wanted.
“And she was right,” Nicastro said.
Nicastro said her departure is “a great loss for the city,” but after “putting up with us” for so many years, her retirement is well-deserved.
The other full-time city lawyer, Richard Lacey, has long experience as well. Though he’s only been full-time since Mayor Gerard Couture’s administration, he served as the city attorney for years beforehand.
The two part-time lawyers are Edward Krawiecki, Jr and Tom Conlin. Krawiecki is a former city attorney. Conlin, though hired this year, has extensive experience at City Hall as a former member of the Board of Finance.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
25 comments:
Dick Lacey has to go. He's Chairman of the Board of the Good Old Boys Club meeting at a local sports bar where the city's real business is conducted.
When Ward was a councilman he complained about not filling appointments properly.
What has it been, 6-8 months and not filling the attorneys slot?
Any others???
Anne Baldwin was the power behind the throne during the Nicastro administration. That man would not blow his nose until she told him the coast was clear. Now that he is off the city council, she can retire.
6:33 AM, The city has been plugging along just fine without the attorney's slot being filled and with the crummy economy, that works fine....so please, do us all a favor and find something else to whine about.
6:00am- you must be quite the bar-fly yourself based upon your tracking of everyone else's patronage. Maybe you should sober up and see the world through real glasses instead of the bottom of 2 shot glasses.
Oh, 6:33am - knock it off Stortz.
Mayor Ward was re-elected, you won't have been.
Let him do his job without your constant micro-managing. It didn't work when you were Mayor (the worst Mayor in Bristol's history) and it won't work now.
The elction is over! The people have spoken!
KOSTA
Kraweiki, he'll change the ordinances that say only Polish people can park their cars in a snow storm on Main Street.
November 17, 2009 2:36 PM
You're a biggot. I'm surprised Steve let your comment through. He definately has the flu.
2:36, Sounds like a plan to me!
2:23
You might be right, Stortz probably wouldn't have won with the support you republicans give your candidate.
Take a look at how much the City pays outside law firms every year and it makes you wonder why we pay to have attorney's on staff at all. Since the City pays so much to high-priced Hartford law firms and the Mayor says we're fine without filling the position, it should be cut.
the more interesting piece of this story is the package that the attorney walked out of City Hall with.
Service officer not filled either. I had to go to the VA for help, rather then a walk to city hall.
6:28 raises an interesting point. We know the City spends a lot of money paying lawyers to babysit Personnel Director Ferguson at the many labor board grievance hearings in Wethersfield. But does anyone know how much?
now either Steeg or more likely the other quack can get their bennies
10:03
Are there any others?
Too bad Alford didn't make that one of her issues!
yawn...
7:46 - how would she have known unless mocamammie or schaffrick told her?
10:41
How would they have known?
And certainly Cockayne wasn't going to help anyone.
Ken is for ken thats it .Wont change.
10:41 AM
you know that for those two clowns there has to be an angle for personal gain. otherwise...they will not bother to help anyone.
you got what you voted for at around a 25% turn out. If you voted by all means complain, if you didn't shut the trap and move to somewhere where you would be shot for voting for change.
Headline should read: A Lawyer to be hired.
Would be novel in itself.
9:30 - if it were a novel, you couldn't get past the cover page anyhow.
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