Leader Herald Staff
The city’s legal office requested a $250,000 appropriation from the Budgetary Fund Balance for the Solicitor’s Litigation/Professional Services account at Monday night’s council meeting.
The request was sent to the council’s Ways and Means Committee for discussion.
What exactly the money is for was not enumerated in the request for the appropriation. However, a message from the solicitor read to the council by the city clerk indicated that the city is up to date with its legal bills.
Several public speakers and Council President Mike Marchese indicated they believed this might be an appropriation needed to pay for further legal costs with regard to the ongoing Federal probe into racism and discrimination now being conducted by the US Attorney’s office.
That probe has already cost the city $500,000.
It is believed the document requests filed by the US Attorney’s office in regard to the probe has been completed.
However, it is unknown what direction the probe has taken and whether or not it will morph into a government case with charges lodged against the city.
The city’s representation is apparently predicated upon its’ lawyer’s advice and belief that the city needs to defend itself against a case developing from the probe.
The $500,000 of legal fees paid to Greenberg Traurig LLC have not been held up to public scrutiny.
Redacted copies of the invoices provided to the council recently failed to provide any insight into what exactly was being handed over to the US Attorney’s office and its Justice Department Civil Rights team.