BULLETIN: Cecil County Commish Battle on Lawyers in Artesian Case; Broomell Move Could Cost $$$
Cecil County Commissioner Diana Broomell (R-4) set off a firestorm Tuesday at a commissioners’ worksession with a demand to send a letter firing the entire Miles & Stockbridge law firm, and not just an individual attorney, from representing the county in all aspects of the sale of county water and sewer plants to the private Artesian firm. It could cost the county huge legal bills to bring in another law firm unfamiliar with the complex case and could also risk a costly legal push-back from Artesian.
The county is facing a deadline to complete the sale by 12/31/11 and foot-dragging by the county could bring another warning of a breach of contract legal action against the county by Artesian. A letter earlier this month cited three potential breaches of the contract that were triggered by earlier moves by Broomell, a longstanting opponent of the sale to Artesian.
On Tuesday, Broomell claimed that at an 8/9/11 closed meeting of the commissioners it was decided to fire the entire Baltimore law firm, and not just the lead attorney, Lawrence Haislip, who has represented the county for years on the complex Artesian matter. Haislip was also the lead attorney on defending the county against a lawsuit brought by political allies of Broomell, the Appleton Regional Community Alliance (ARCA). It cost taxpayers over $203,00 in legal bills to defend the county against the ARCA lawsuit.
“The name of Miles and Stockbridge was never brought up… it was all about Larry,” Commissioner Robert Hodge (R-5) said, adding that Broomell appeared to be attempting to re-write the facts of what actually occurred at the closed door meeting.
Commissioner Tari Moore (R-2) agreed with Hodge, saying that “the vote was on Mr. Haislip himself.”
Broomell sought to blame the county’s “staff” and said they should have “let me know” that the law firm represented the county on many aspects of the Artesian matter. At that, Commissioner Moore shot a surprised look at Broomell, who then declared, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Moore and Hodge voted against firing Haislip. But Broomell and her usual voting bloc, Commissioners Michael Dunn (R-3) and James Mullin (R-1) went along with her. Although the vote was conducted in a secret session, the commissioners agreed to state publicly after the 8/9/11 meeting that the action to fire Haislip had been taken.
As the rhetorical war raged among fellow commissioners on Tuesday, Mullin sought to have the commissioners express a “concensus” rather than have a formal vote to send the letter firing the entire law firm. Eventually, he tabled action on the letter and said the commissioners would discuss it again in yet another closed door meeting on Tuesday, for which the commissioners cited the exception to the state open meetings law to allow secret discussions of legal matters.
Cecil Times will be filing a full report later.
[See Updated Report here:
http://ceciltimes.com/2011/08/cecil-county-commissioners-back-down-for-now-on-broomell-bid-to-fire-law-firm-on-artesian-sale-move-could-cost-lots-more-legal-fees/
