1999-02-20 Charter Commission Minutes

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INTRODUCTION OF COMMISSIONERSPage 9 of 29 BALOG: Just one thing that I was thinking about with the budget. It might be worth our while to have Rudy go and get a few rates from law firms and what the going rate would be so it could be presented at the next meeting for the simple fact we aren’t sure what rates there are and what the hours will be and from there, depending on whether we want to have an outside attorney part time or full time to assist with a Corp Counsel attorney which you brought up. RAY: But is it your sense that we come up with this budget by saying that we’re going to have one meeting per month, just take so many hours per month and that’s our monthly budget? How are we going to come up with a budget for the attorney? BALOG: In general, I don’t think any attorney is going to work for you eight hours a day. If we go outside, they’re going to have their prep time before that date and time after that meeting. That’s why I’m saying I feel it’s only fair that you ask for quotes from law firms. RAY: But don’t you agree we need some backup information on how the Commission operated in the past in terms of.. BESS: What Rudy just provided us with, the number of hours spent by each attorney for the last couple of Commissions. WURDEMAN: I hate to throw a curve ball in here, but we do have an procurement law and the proper way to go about selecting professional services is to put an ad in the paper stating what you want and then you got to get the responses when they come in. IRVINE: It’s all in what Rudy gave us about how they hired… WURDEMAN: The law was different then, it was much looser. IRVINE: It still went out to every attorney on the island and… RAY: Mr. Wurdeman, we have a letter here from Bob Bethea from 1989, which describes the process and it was pretty exhaustive back then, so… WURDEMAN: What the law requires is an ad in the paper, a general statement of what you’re seeking, what’s the qualifications that you require, then you’re entitled to contact people you like to make sure they respond, that’s not prohibited. Then when the responses come in, you can meet and that would be permissible as an executive as a personnel matter and you can evaluate what you have and make a selection. RAY: Do you have any, being an attorney yourself, any background on what Kevin had to say in terms of hourly rates and what would be realistic for an attorney to be involved say on a monthly basis for a meeting. BESS: Not having had any experience with the number of hours that are required, as far as rate goes, I think we can throw out a figure of $110 bucks, something like that, just to play with. Richard, what do you think? WURDEMAN: I was going to say $125. HERKES: I noticed in 1989, the 1989 Search Committee, who did the evaluation on the criteria file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 2-20-99.html7/1/2011