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General News: Mayor Files Suit Against Village, Trustees
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| Mayor Gross and his attorney Jonathan Chase (l) announce the filing of the Article 78 petition. |
March 05, 2011
By Charlie B. Scirbona
Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson Mayor Joe Gross has filed a temporary restraining order against the village board of trustees, preventing them from taking any action on paying the law firm of Tarshis, Catania, Liberth, Mahon and Millgram.
The order was filled at noon Friday along with an Article 78, a two-inch thick legal document that contains fifty years of village board minutes. Both parties, the mayor and Trustees James Kane, Mark Edsall and Doug Vatter are scheduled to appear in the Goshen state Supreme Court Wednesday. The restraining order bars any action on paying the attorneys until the court date.
The village currently owes the law firm over $90,000 in legal fees for its services representing the village since last summer.
In basic terms, an Article 78 will let a state Supreme Court judge decide whether the hiring of the attorney to represent the village is up to the mayor or the board, according to the mayor’s attorney, Jonathan Chase.
“This will essentially level the playing field,” Chase said at a press conference Friday afternoon.
At the press conference Gross lashed out against the three trustees.
“I sought this job to do good things for the village and I was able to do that for three years,” said Gross. “This year has been different; Trustees Kane, Edsall and Vatter have conspired to usurp power from the office of mayor.”
Gross said that he understood the possible political consequences of filing the Article 78 and that he would pursue this case whether he was mayor or not after the coming election.
“I’ve got to defend the office of the mayor,” said Gross.
As of Friday none of the three trustees named in the case had been served with the papers and restraining order, but they all believed this issue would end in their favor.
Trustee Vatter welcomed the legal move. “This couldn’t be better,” said Vatter. “The truth will come out now.”
He added that he believed the matter to be already well settled, noting that because the board contracted with a law firm instead of a single person the decision was up to the board. State law dictates that it’s the mayor’s privilege to hire employees; however outside contractors are left up to the village board.
“This amounts to the mayor holding his breath and stamping his feet,” said Vatter.
Trustee Edsall pointed out that the state comptroller has leveled the opinion in the past that a law firm cannot be an employee, as well as noting that no where in the village code is there listed an office of village attorney.
Trustee Kane concurred with two other trustees and added that the mayor himself has used the law firm’s services for village matters.
“It’s unfortunate, but I’m very confident we’ll prevail,” said Kane. “The attorneys will get paid, despite his (the mayor’s) opinion.”
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