The city of Galesburg is looking for new legal counsel after Barash & Everett LLC elected to terminate its ongoing interim agreement between the two parties.
Attorney Paul Mangieri of Barash & Everett, with offices in Galesburg, said his firm notified City Manager Gerald Smith on May 2 of their intentions to end their contract with the city. They were required to give 30 days notice, meaning Galesburg would need new legal counsel by June 3.
Barash & Everett took over as the city’s legal council last September when previous city attorney and administrative services director Bradley Nolden left to become vice president for administration and general counsel at Knox College.
Mangieri represents the city at City Council meetings, while Leslie Day of Barash & Everett spends Tuesdays and Thursday at city hall.
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Mangieri stressed at Monday’s Special City Council meeting that Barash & Everett LLC was not fired from representing the city.
“When we took that job, we did so on an interim basis — literally,” Mangieri told WGIL on Tuesday. “Mr. Nolden had taken a position at Knox College, and rather than seeing the city kind of in a lurch for legal counsel we submitted a proposal to do their legal work on month to month basis.”
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Mangieri said Barash & Everett sought to stick with the city through three high-profile events — the search for a new city manager, acquiring demolition rights of the former Broadview Inn & Suites, and the April election.
“We thought it was time we could step away and the city could find permanent in-house counsel,” Mangieri said. “On May 2 we sent a letter to Mr. Smith, saying pursuant to our contract, we are giving our 30 days notice, and will not be providing legal services later than June. 2.
“Having said that, we’re not going to leave people in a lurch. We will continue on to do some legal work to ensure that there’s an orderly transition.”
According to Mangieri, Barash & Everett provides similar legal services to other several smaller municipalities in the region.
City ponders in-house vs. outsourced firm
Smith said the city is exploring options for replacing Barash & Everett, whether it’s pursuing an in-house candidate or another outsourced firm.
“If we decide to pursue an in-house firm, we would go through a traditional recruitment process, but if it’s an outsourced firm, we will go through a Request for Proposal process,” Smith said.
Smith said Barash & Everett has committed to remain with the city until it has secured new legal counsel.
“So in short, the city will retain the current level of legal services until a replacement is hired or engaged,” he said.
The item to find a replacement for Barash & Everett as city legal counsel differs from Monday’s agenda item where the City Council proposed to retain the firm of Ancel Glink as independent legislative counsel.
“That caused a lot of confusion when they had that on the agenda,” Mangieri said. “It wasn’t to terminate us, because we had already given notice that we were going to discontinue with the city.
“They’re looking at that representation in a different capacity.”
Statute allows Council to retain its own attorney
Mangieri explained the City Council’s interests may be divergent of the city manager or mayor. He said state statute provides the legislative branch — in this case the Council — can retain a different attorney to represent their interests.
Mangieri said Galesburg has not previously retained independent legislative counsel. In his opinion, he said a city council using those type of services is “not unheard of, but somewhat rare.”
Keri-Lyn J. Krafthefer, an equity partner with Ancel Glink, addressed the City Council on what role her firm would play if hired, but the item was eventually tabled for further consideration.
Mayor: No need for Council to work ‘behind the scenes’
Galesburg Mayor Peter Schwartzman said the recruitment of an outside legal counsel without direction from city lawyers, the city manager or the mayor is “very troubling.”
“Councilors should know that they have the right to request outside Counsel through a normal set of protocols,” he said. “There was no need to do this behind the scenes.”
Ward 5 council member Heather Acerra, however, said it is common for governmental bodies to have different law firms advising different branches of government. She notes the legislative counsel would advise the City Council in its duties including ordinance and policy making.
“The firm we are considering for legislative counsel, Ancel Glink, P.C., is well respected, and they have authored the Illinois Municipal Handbook,” Acerra said. “Given their experience and broad client base, they have vast knowledge of best practices in municipalities across Illinois.”
Acerra said, if passed, the legislative counsel ordinance would allow the counsel to seek the firm’s advice at a standard hourly rate(s) for attorneys and paralegals.
