Aureli 3 month salary
Just an FYI on a FOI request submitted and received on the salary so far for the PB Attorney for legal counsel to the planning and zoning boards. Aureli charges a "modest" (for a lawyer anyways) $150 an hour for his services, and his 3 month total of 70.4 hours reflects that.
I thought it might be good to let the residents know that if you send an e-mail or have a telephone conference with the PB attorney, it will be charged to the taxpayers for that time taken to read an e-mail or talk on the phone to you. I don't know if a lot of people know that, and might want to keep their correspondence short and sweet if possible. A penny saved is a penny earned! ;)
Also, while I was reviewing what Mr. Aureli has accomplished in his 3 months with the planning and zoning boards - I was extremely impressed with the time it took to write up that 17 page resolution regarding Newport. On the page marked '12' for 2/19/10 it says it only took him 2 hours and 45 minutes to review all that info and write up that resolution....that's pretty good time. I would think a lot would be involved in writing that resolution and looking up all the previous info provided (I know it took me more than 2.9 hours to look through the DEIS and FEIS alone). I would imagine it would normally take a good 4-5 hours to research and write up that resolution. I also think it was really nice of Mr. Aureli to make sure that Mr. Goldman (RSM's Attorney) had the resolution on his laptop before the PB even got a copy at the meeting! It was nice to be able to follow along (if you were sitting behind Mr. Goldman at the meeting) while he was leisurely scrolling through the resolution. Convenient too.
6 comments:
Trivia of the day -
How, and why is it that Jerry Goldman is awarded the luxury and privilege of having the resolution at the meeting - and on his laptop no less ... but, our planning board members receive 17 physical copies at the meeting with only an allowance of 15 minutes to review?
I don't get it ... something isn't right here.
How do you like how he charged the town the half hour time it took to ask Freeman how to cover his ass in responding to the FOI request?
Talking to Freeman from the Committee on Open Government for a half hour is not work related to planning or zoning board duties.
If Aureli doesn't understand what it means to submit his past 3 month charges to the town for counsel - the taxpayers shouldn't be charged for his ignorance.
kcomella,
I just love trivia. :)
Could the answer be because Jerry Goldman WROTE/PREPARED the resolution?????
Could it be that our planning board attorney was away on vacation the week prior to the meeting (spoken about on tape at the meeting)and Jerry Goldman just happened to write it up for him?
No wonder the RSM developer's team was scrolling through it on their laptop at the meeting.
Our planning board didn't have it emailed to them but the developer had it on their computer?! Hmmmm.
I guess that's one of the advantages if the Developer writes the resolution. wink-wink!
Jax,
So not only does he charge all these minutes for every email he reads, he charges to call Committee on Open Government?
What's up with that? I guess he didn't like the foil submission.
I met Mr. Aureli in the parking lot after the March meeting. I introduced myself and asked a question about the resolution. Talk about rudeness he walked away when I was asking him a question and got into his car. I guess if he didn't write the resolution it might be a little uncomfortable talking about it.
I guess that's better than the month prior when I watched him wipe the snow off of Jerry Goldman's car. ;)
"Could the answer be because Jerry Goldman WROTE/PREPARED the resolution?????"
What? Noooooooooo - that couldn't happen, could it? They are so honest and forthright, they would never do something like that!
I sure hope that anyone who knows that Goldman wrote the resolution would report it to the proper authorities - I think it's the right thing to do.
Otherwise - they get away with it, and that's not right.
Leone would never have plopped down a 17 page resolution at a PB meeting without the PB members all knowing about it - at the meeting one of the PB members had to ask for 15 minutes to review it!
Hilarious.
Cheri had written -
"Could the answer be because Jerry Goldman WROTE/PREPARED the resolution?????"
Pencils down. (Ding-ding-ding!) Congratulations, Cheri - you win the "trivia of the day". If you review the billing dates 2/19 (draft @ 1.4 hrs.), and 2/22 (1.2 hrs.) - the correspondence between Aureli & Goldman w/ a resolution document attached, clearly suggests Goldman was involved in the development of the resolution.
The town attorney accepted a created resolution by a developers attorney, and passes it off as his very own work ... and then charges the town for it to boot!
To me, that's like going for a divorce - and your spouse is the judge.
Jax had written -
"Leone would never have plopped down a 17 page resolution at a PB meeting without the PB members all knowing about it - at the meeting one of the PB members had to ask for 15 minutes to review it!"
I fully agree. I do not believe that Leone would have pulled such a stunt. Ever. I do not believe that Leone would have ever put his name on someone elses work - let alone charge the town for it.
I cannot believe the billing practices of Mr. Aureli.
It is simply outrageous.
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