A recommendation to hire a new law firm to represent Maine Township government was halted this week as members of the board asked for more time to bring their own candidates forward for consideration.
Supervisor Laura Morask had proposed that the town board of trustees vote to hire attorneys from the law firm of Ancel Glink following last month’s resignation of longtime attorney Dan Dowd, but her motion was met with resistance from three trustees with whom she has routinely been at odds.
At the April 17 meeting, Trustee Susan Sweeney attempted to substitute Morask’s motion with one of her own, asking that the hiring decision be deferred until the “merits” of Morask’s recommendation, in addition to “other options,” could be explored.
“It’s not anything against the attorneys you’re bringing forth,” Sweeney said later. “I understand you appoint with our consent and approval. But I think there would be a greater comfort level if we could look at other attorneys.”
Trustees Claire McKenzie and David Carrabotta also expressed a desire to explore additional law firms.
The board ultimately agreed to defer voting to hire an attorney until the town board’s April 24 meeting at Town Hall. It was also agreed that trustees could present the names of other attorneys to Morask.
Morask questioned the trustees as to why they had not made this proposal to her earlier or already submitted names of other attorneys. She said she sent the elected officials information on her recommendations two weeks earlier.
“Nobody asked a question,” she said.
According to state law, the supervisor of a township may appoint a township attorney “with the advice and consent of the township board.”
During a March 27 meeting of the Maine Township Board, Morask, after informing the elected officials of Dowd’s resignation, publicly stated that she was considering for appointment an attorney from Ancel Glink who had been recently hired to work on the township’s personnel manual. The board, at that same meeting, then approved a motion to meet again on April 17 “for the purpose of the supervisor bringing an appointee [for township attorney], who will be present, for advice and consent of the board.”
“I thought tonight was to discuss how we were going to proceed,” McKenzie told Morask on April 17.
That meeting was attended by Ancel Glink attorneys Jeffrey Brown and Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, who were recommended to be the township’s primary attorneys. Brown would attend board meetings, but both attorneys, in addition to a third, would represent the township, Morask said.
Earlier in the meeting, Morask told the township board that requests for proposals, typically referred to as RFPs, had gone out in search of attorneys interested in the position.
“We did do an RFP,” Morask said. “This was the only firm that applied.”
After Sweeney commented that she had not been part of the process, Morask said the request for proposals included “specifications” for “everything we have used the township attorney for.”
But later in the meeting, she acknowledged that requests for proposals were not sent out.
“We did not do a formal RFP,” Morask said.
While speaking of Ancel Glink’s qualifications, Morask referred to the firm’s collaboration on the “Township Officials of Illinois Laws and Duties Handbook.” She also said she was pleased with the work done on the township’s personnel manual.
According to the firm’s proposal, the township would be billed at $200 per hour for work performed by Krafthefer and Brown, and $150 per hour by other associate attorneys.
Trustee Kim Jones, the only trustee to support Morask’s motion to hire the attorneys, asked if the trustees wanted to defer the vote because they planned to recommend an Ancel Glink attorney to represent the township in an appeal against an Illinois Municipal Retirement System decision. The town board had voted 3-2 last year against certifying the township assessor’s position as pension-eligible, but IMRF’s former general counsel reversed the board’s action and reinstated Assessor Susan Moylan-Krey’s pension participation. This led to Carrabotta, McKenzie and Sweeney voting to appeal.
Moylan-Krey, whose position is at the heart of the IMRF issue, lashed out at the three trustees at the April 17 meeting and shouted an obscenity as she claimed the legal appeal was the reason why they refused to vote on Morask’s choice for legal representation.
Sweeney, speaking to the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate, denied this.
“I haven’t even talked to them about doing the appeal,” she said.
Sweeney added that she was “not as comfortable with Ancel Glink” representing township government, but declined to state her reasons publicly.
She did say that she wanted increased transparency in the township and wanted to make certain that “we’re getting the value we deserve. Hiring an attorney is a long-term decision.”
Moylan-Krey accused members of the board of failing to follow meeting procedures and rules of order.
“I can’t come to a meeting if there’s no attorney here because I can’t tolerate what goes on at these meetings,” she said.
Other attorneys with Ancel Glink currently represent the city of Park Ridge.
jjohnson@chicagotribune.com
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
