The crack union-busting Albany law firm of Roemer, Wallens and Mineaux dropped the ball in yet another case for the city last week, losing to a group of retired firefighters to whom Mayor Irene Elia no longer wanted to pay health benefits.
As far as their win-loss record, the much-touted law firm would even be ridiculed by the 2001 Buffalo Bills, who won only three while losing 13 in that disastrous season.
The recent decision will cost the city as much as $50,000 and is only the latest in a string of losses the high-priced attorneys have racked up on behalf of the city.
The case was decided in Buffalo by Arbitrator Howard G. Foster on April 3. In addition to damages awarded the 12 retired fire officers, Niagara Falls taxpayers are also left holding the bag for thousands in attorney's fees owed to a law firm whose representatives do not even know how to pronounce the mayor's name.
"I couldn't believe it," said retired fire Captain Stefan Kundl, who sat through the entire proceeding. "The Roemer lawyer they had, Mary Roach, kept saying 'Mayor Eye-lia.' That's how much of an interest they take in Niagara Falls."
City Councilman and mayoral candidate Vince Anello said he will reintroduce a resolution calling for the city to sever its ties to Roemer at the April 14 Council meeting.
"We keep burning up money and creating contempt in our workforce over things that should have been resolved by the parties sitting across a table," he said. "In most of these cases, common sense tells you they're unwinnable, since each one of these are attempts to break contracts that have been legally entered into."
While last week's case involved only a small group of retired fire department officers, Kundl told the Reporter that each of the seven other city unions have similar cases in varying stages of litigation.
"The administration keeps bragging about a $1.2 million budget surplus, well, I can tell you where at least half of it is going," he said. "It's going back to the working men and women it was stolen from in the first place. When you have a binding, contractual agreement in place, both sides have to live up to it."
Incredibly, the city's attorneys never called a single witness to testify in the case, despite the presence of Fire Chief William Correa, city Director of Human Services Paul Dziama and other court jesters of the Elia administration.
"I can tell you, I've been involved in grievance arbitration, not only in the Falls, but in other cities over many years, and I've never seen a case where the municipality doesn't call a single witness," Kundl said.
Kundl pointed out the fact that Correa, Dziama and City Administrator Al Joseph had signed off on official "Personnel Actions" papers for retiring firefighters, promising full health care, even as they were involved in litigation arguing the city had the right to slash health care benefits.
"You, yourself, put it in writing that you'll pay it and then argue that you don't have to pay it?" he said. "This whole thing was just so they could go into Moody's (Investors' Service) and say, 'Look, we saved all this money, raise our bond rating.'"
Elia, her subordinates and media lackeys have consistently pointed to a slight increase in the city's bond rating as the crowning achievement of her administration.
Considering this most recent humiliation for the city, Anello said he hopes his resolution to fire the Roemer firm will pass on its second consideration by the Council.
When he introduced it last month, Elia's cheering section -- Council members Fran Iusi, Paul Dyster and Candra Thomason -- defeated it in a typical 3-2 vote. Should Roemer stay on, the total cost to the city could be as much as $500,000, Anello said.
"I would hope my colleagues approve the resolution," he said. "It just makes sense, as the city has been losing these cases time and again."
Although the mayor may hallucinate time and again about her ability to renege on signed contracts, and although the Albany law firm may encourage her in this delusional belief, it is the people of Niagara Falls who must ultimately pay for the folly.
"These guys that are owed will ultimately get paid," Kundl said. "Why would someone hire people in order to make them the scapegoats for everything that goes wrong?"
Sources agreed that the hugest loss to the city will come about a month from now, when all of the eight municipal employees' unions' case against the administration over the NOVA health care system will come to a head. The upcoming case involves more than $250,000 in lost benefits.
"The case we were just involved in, and won, had a few gray areas," Kundl said. "The one that's coming up is cut and dried."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 8 2003 |