In case the torturous negotiations over the proposed new courthouse hadn't provided enough examples of why Niagara Falls desperately needs a new city charter, perhaps the most compelling piece of evidence arrived at City Hall last week in the form of a bill.
Local attorney James Roscetti, who represented the city in talks with Ciminelli-Largo, the development team whose bid won City Council approval in June 2005, submitted an invoice for $10,000 for 62 hours of his services between Jan. 19 and March 3.
This should not, in any way, be taken as a shot at Mr. Roscetti. Citycide certainly doesn't want Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello to have to issue any more emotional apologies to the good barrister, like the one he stumbled through moments before the Council ran roughshod over the pair's objections in approving the deal on March 31.
We're not quibbling with the price, either. While $175 per hour might elicit a gasp from most people who work for a living, it's not really out of line for attorneys or their ethical equivalents.
The problem here is that the city had to hire an outside attorney when it already has a full contingent of lawyers on staff, compensated with good-for-Niagara-Falls salaries and benefits packages that are the envy of the United Auto Workers.
In hiring Roscetti, Anello claimed the city's legal department didn't have time to properly handle negotiations. City Council concurred.
Underlying the move, though, was the Council's well-deserved lack of faith in the Corporation Counsel's office. Not due to the quality of the attorneys, but where the current city charter directs their loyalties.
Under the mishmashed document that forms the foundation of government in Niagara Falls, the Corporation Counsel and his staff serve at the pleasure of the mayor. So when the administration and City Council butt heads on an issue, which is invariably, the legal advice emanating from the legal department will just as inevitably have a slant to it, real or perceived.
The same lack of confidence led to some Council members seeking legal outside advice once they started to wonder if Roscetti was representing the city's best interests, or what Anello felt were the city's best interests.
The attorney they reached out to, Ned Perlman, explained the dilemma moments before Council approved the deal.
"The problem with the city charter is that the Corporation Counsel answers to the mayor and the City Council, but we all know who can fire the Corporation Counsel and who pays the Corporation Counsel," Perlman said. "Each one of you has felt at times that you don't get the best advice from the Corporation Counsel, only because of the position Corporation Counsel is placed in. It's unfortunate, but that's the way your charter is."
It certainly wasn't the first time the inherent conflict worked against the best interests of taxpayers. Before Anello, who was still receiving the benefit of the doubt from most Council members, orchestrated the Great Hyde Park Golf Course Giveaway, Corporation Counsel Ron Anton didn't offer an opinion in his official capacity, but spoke in favor of the deal he had helped draw up as a "private citizen."
When it became clear that the Council had been bamboozled, it passed a resolution ordering Anton to ask state Supreme Court Justice Vincent Doyle to nullify the deal, which he'd hinted he would do if so requested. On instruction from Anello, Anton ignored the resolution and never made the request.
After another year went by with Greater Niagara Sports again failing to make any of the legally required improvements to the course, the administration wound up filing suit against the company to get out of the agreement.
Due to the charter's loopholes, the Council was powerless to stop the administration's illegal efforts to avoid paying the city's libraries the money budgeted for 2005.
The logical solution would be a new charter that provides the Council with a lawyer of its own, who could offer advice without fear of being fired by the mayor, and frees the legal department to offer advice that's purely legal, rather than politically flavored.
A more independent Corporation Counsel's office might be able to avert the torrent of lawsuits that result from the administration getting legal guidance tailored to fit its demands.
With fewer lawsuits to defend from every angle, City Hall might not have to go outside and hire private attorneys to do the heavy lifting.
Let's not forget, Roscetti's bill was only for services rendered through March 3. Negotiations intensified through the month, and though Roscetti was away on vacation for part of the month, he put his partner, Damon DeCastro, on the case. It's unlikely those hours will be billed at a discounted rate.
And let's face it -- paying somebody an hourly rate, especially when that rate is $175, hardly encourages them to get the job done as quickly as possible.
With bankruptcy and a control board of its very own looming, Niagara Falls doesn't have an hour, or a dollar, to waste.
Word is that there were federales in the area once again last week, asking questions and looking for documents.
That barely qualifies as news in these parts anymore. Except that in this case, they weren't FBI agents visiting City Hall, trying to find out who paid what to whom, or what was received in return. Or looking over the paperwork of the Niagara Power Coalition, attempting to learn who received which check and why the appropriate tax forms weren't sent to the same person. These federal agents were representatives of the United States Department of Labor and the focus of their inquiry was the personnel records of our good friends at Greater Niagara Newspapers.
Seems there may have been some discrepancy between the hours worked by GNN employees and the time for which they were actually paid. At least one unhappy former employee complained and the Labor Department, which frowns upon such inconsistencies, quickly responded.
When this reporter was hired by The Other Paper what seems like several lifetimes ago, an editor sat me down and carefully explained that, should I wind up working more than 37.5 hours, it was very, very important to record the information on that week's time card.
As a young veteran of smallish daily newspapers, and the wink-nudge approach to compensation adopted by most, I thought she was kidding. She was very serious, though, as systemic overtime-law violations had cost another newspaper chain millions in back pay and fines shortly before.
But that was when Gannett owned The Other Paper, before Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. consumed it and three other local dailies.
Hailing from Alabammy, where adequate pay for time worked hasn't always been a key component of the local economy, CNHI first instituted a policy that any overtime had to be pre-approved. Which doesn't really work in a business where the amount of labor and the time required to complete it is usually dictated by the day's events.
Then overtime became little more than an old-timey newspaper term as quaintly obsolete as "hot lead" and "proofreading." One former editor was known to respond to respond to requests for overtime approval by scowling and warning, "I've got a drawer full of resumes."
While such tough talk may mask insecurities and please corporate mucky-mucks, it can also trigger government investigations. Stay tuned.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 18 2006 |