The new leadership of the Clarkstown Board of Education initiated some changes at Monday night’s reorganization meeting. Board members voted to replace current Deputy District Clerk Maureen Sullivan with Jeff Sobel. They approved issuing a Request For Proposals (RFP) for legal services for the district, which are currently provided by Warren Berbit of Lexow, Berbit & Associates, P.C. of Suffern.
Sullivan handled the deputy district clerk responsibilities for the past year. Sobel will take over for the 2012-2103 school year. Sobel, who is the district’s assistant superintendent for personnel, was appointed at the recommendation of Diane Hoeneveld, the newly elected board vice president.
Hoeneveld said the deputy clerk attends board sessions where confidential matters are discussed and she thought Sobel who already handles personnel issues was more appropriate for the position. Sullivan works as the coordinator of business services for the district.
Board Member Kevin Grogan questioned the switch. The vote to appoint Sobel was four in favor, two against and one abstention.
The suggestion to solicit bids from other law firms for legal counsel came from newly elected board President Joe Malgieri. He said the district paid Berbit $600,000 last year. Board member Robert Carlucci noted that an audit of the district had determined it was paying too much for legal fees.
“It’s our responsibility as a board to watch the money,” said Carlucci.
Berbit’s current three-year contract runs through June 30, 2013. When Malgieri suggested keeping Berbit on a month-to-month basis, new board member Wendy Adolff asked that Berbit be kept through the end of his contract while the board looks at what other legal services are available.
Malgieri said Berbit had a one-person law firm and was providing counsel for a multi-million dollar school district. Grogan countered that Berbit has associates and is not a single-person law firm and said Malgieri’s statement should be retracted. He also brought up the possibility that the RFP was in response to previous events.
In their October petition filed with the State Education Commissioner by board members Malgieri, Hoeneveld and Carlucci seeking the removal of then board members Doug Katz and Philip DeGaetano, they referred to a document viewed in Berbit’s office which Malgieri and Hoeneveld were not permitted to copy or write notes about.
The board voted six in favor of issuing an RFP with just Grogan in opposition.
Berbit is the general counsel and chief legal officer for the Clarkstown Central School District. He has served the district for 30 years and the law firm has represented it since 1949. According to the contract with the district, Berbit’s annual retainer is $263,400 with monthly payments of $21,950. The board can ask him to perform supplemental work for the district at additional cost.
<<< the legal counsel for the School Board is paid $21,950 per month plus expenses! That is a minimum of over one quarter of a million dollars per year. (What the expenses part are all about beats me!). Malgieri says he wants to "trim expenses" as his reason for getting rid of Lexow, Berbit & Associates and not the fact, according to the Journal News, that this law firm limited access to a document he wanted in last year's dispute. This is not a good omen! But if the knife has to be wielded with malice then let's be sure that these legal expenses are trimmed not by nine percent (9%) but CUT by NINETY percent (90%) and the money saved is spent where it is needed in fixing deteriorated school properties. The taxpayers will be watching just how much you save on this line item, Mr. Malgieri, and it had better live up to your "trim expenses" statement. >>> Now we learn it is $600,000 they paid him. Over twice my estimate. And on top of this how many thousands did they pay Lynch? Get rid of him asap, Mike? I say investigate him asap! Taxpayers it is time to wake up. You are paying for all of this! The police ripped you off with a <gimme what I want> contract and now we find the school board has been doing the same!
http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2011/clarkstown.pdf
It was not about the superintendent that was just the headline grabber. 600 thousand dollars can fix a lot of broken things in our schools. disgusting!
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. Pursuant to Section 35 of the General Municipal Law, Section 2116-a(3)(c) of the Education Law and Section 170.12 of the regulations of the Commissioner of Education, a written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the fi ndings and recommendations in this report must be prepared and provided to our office within 90 days, with a copy forwarded to the Commissioner of Education. To the extent practicable, implementation of the CAP must begin by the end of the next fiscal year