Joseph Kelly took issue this week with the way First Selectman Matt Riiska described costs incurred in a lawsuit contesting the Planning and Zoning Commission’s modification of the Manor House’s special permit.
In fact, the costs were incurred over the course of a year or more, mostly prior to the lawsuit itself.
Riiska told the Board of Finance last week that the town has expended about $43,000 for attorney fees, and another $6,000 to $7,000 for transcribing transcripts of the P&Z proceedings during the first few months of the lawsuit.
“This is not accurate,” Kelly wrote. He said that the town’s decision to retain counsel was made more than a year ago and took place months before the Manor House filed its application for modification of its special permit.
In fact, the town retained counsel for the P&Z on the advice of the interim Zoning Enforcement Officer at the time Manor House filed its first application, which it later withdrew.
Kelly further noted that the attorney attended meetings and public hearings, consulted with town officials and participated in drafting the P&Z’s decision. “This work represents the bulk, if not the entirety, of what is encompassed in the $43,000 fee,” Kelly asserted, noting that the expenditure would have been incurred regardless of whether the neighbors or the Manor House appealed the decision.
“Presumably, the town was monitoring the cost of the legal services being provided and endorsed this continuing investment,” he said. “It is unclear why this $43,000 bill should surprise anyone.”
Riiska agreed this week that many of the costs incurred resulted from Casagrande’s earlier work but said that the town was behaving prudently in providing legal counsel for the P&Z in a case “that was going to court no matter which way it was decided. We knew what was coming and we had to cover all our bases. The town has to support its boards and commissions and make sure they have the tools they need to do a proper job.”
He sees the earlier legal expenses as being part of a continuum in deciding the case.
The legal fees are actually closer to $47,000 than $43,000, he added, and “we are still incurring a large amount of money.” As to the “surprise” at the amount of the bill, Riiska said it was not a surprise, but it is his duty to report such expenses to the Board of Finance.