The town exceeded its budget for legal fees by 32% in the fiscal year that ended June 30, documents show.
The total spent in legal fees—$395,947.42 against a budget of $300,000—does not include expenses incurred as part of the town’s purchase of an Elm Street building earlier this year, according to a legal bill approved July 26 by the Board of Selectmen. (Those fees, which the Board of Finance later “re-classified,” had already exceeded $43,000 by January, past bills show.)
During the Board’s meeting, Selectman Kathleen Corbet asked about the $8,000 monthly retainer that New Canaan pays to Berchem Moses PC, the town attorney’s firm.
“Relative to the full amount of the budget, about 20%, is that similar to what other towns are?” Corbet asked during the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “Is that typically what we should expect in terms of the overall budget, the retainer cost?”
Referring to Town Attorney Ira Bloom, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan responded, “I don’t know exactly what other towns pay but I’m told by Ira that we are in the ballpark. Maybe a bit higher. We have more sophisticated problems.”
According to the bill, the most expensive single legal item after the retainer is $56,174.21 related to the 8-30g application for a multifamily housing development on the corner of Weed and Elm Streets, followed by legal work on the New Canaan Library MOU ($36,616.50), New Canaan Playhouse ($17,883.50) and an appeal of a zoning board decision ($14,100).
The town’s record in Freedom of Information Act matters is rather mixed. In June, for example, the state FOI Commission found that the town illegally withheld records following a request by resident David Markatos for Grace Farms-related correspondence that he’d asked for in 2021. During Moynihan’s tenure, the Commission also ruled in 2018 that a committee of the town held illegal meetings. (The FOI Commission currently is deciding a complaint lodged by NewCanaanite.com that the municipal officials violated the law when they denied a request to review the town’s draft MOU with the library in 2020—the town decided to defend its position and has spent nearly $10,000 in legal fees on the matter.)
Corbet asked at what level the town should consider hiring in-house counsel to offset its legal costs, keeping an outside firm on a contract basis as necessary.
“I just don’t know what that crossover point would be from an economic perspective,” she said.
Selectman Nick Williams said he also had considered such a move, “but I think it’s still a pretty significant cost driver, even to get a junior person.”
“It’s something I think we should consider potentially in the future,” Williams added.
He said, “if you are going to have someone, he or she should have, number one, some P&Z land use expertise, HR would be helpful, too, certainly, but general contracts and Public Works.”
Moynihan said the town gets “great value” from its contracted lawyer “and it would be hard to replace the talent we have other there at the junior level.”
“And we get good value over there, in my view, despite others’ thoughts,” Moynihan said.
Who decided to spend $10k of taxpayer funds to avoid sharing a draft Memorandum of Understanding between the town and library? How is this decision being defended?
Great questions that deserve honest answers, though it’s unclear whether the first selectman has the wherewithal to provide them —- it was evident at this week’s selectmen meeting that legal fees are a touchy subject for him.