LoBue Says He Won’t Resign; Mayor Blocks Further Review of Legal Service

CENTRAL — Central Mayor Mac Watts has demanded that Councilman Tony LoBue resign as Chairman of the Mayor’s Committee on Legal Services and keep quiet about it.  But Councilman LoBue said Monday he has no plan to resign.  Watts said he wanted an “immediate” resignation without “fanfare” or “undue publicity.”

Meanwhile, Watts suspended the activities of the committee and ended for now its efforts to find alternatives to hiring City Attorney Sheri Morris at $175 an hour.  Morris’ firms have been paid more than $700,000 for work for the City, school board, and transition district.

Morris says her monthly bills to the City of Central are not public records and should be redacted to blacken out all details of what she does for the City.

The Mayor’s Committee on Legal Services was established by Watts to investigate and make recommendations with regard to how the City of Central procures legal services.

LoBue had been critical of the large sums paid by the city for legal services.  The City has already exceeded its annual budget for legal services.  LoBue has said Central should consider hiring a full-time attorney for an annual salary or retainer, instead of paying $175 an hour.  He has said there are few constraints on the hours charged by Morris, and he has complained about the continued effort by the City to keep Morris’ bills secret.

Watts appointed LoBue to chair the committee but then called for his resignation as Chairman after the committee’s first meeting.

Watts criticized LoBue for distributing copies of Morris’ legal bills to committee members for review.  Watts said the bills should have been redacted or edited, but LoBue contends legal bills to the city are public records.  On Monday, Dr. LoBue issued this statement:

Dear Citizens of Central,

I did not volunteer to be the chairman of the Attorney Study Committee. I was asked by the Mayor to fill that position. At first, I was reluctant but, the more I thought about it, I realized that when people have the chance to study a subject through actual facts, then better decisions can come about.  Even though I did not pick this committee, I truly believe that it is made up of a good mixture that would do their best to report on the facts.  Because this committee is a direct arm from the city council and the mayor, one could come to the conclusion that there would be trust in their judgment. In order to thoroughly evaluate the facts and reach an effective solution, it was necessary for the committee to have access to all of the records.    All of these committee members are upstanding citizens who take pride in the community and are always ready to help out and participate in community activities.  And, since they were selected by the mayor and other councilmen, I did not see a problem with them having all of the facts before them.  How can you expect to get a comprehensive study done without providing the facts?

At the closing of the meeting, Dave Freneaux (Central Speaks) wanted the exact copies of the legal bills that were passed out to the committee.  I was concerned about his motives and realized the controversy that was about to erupt.  So I asked that all copies be returned to me.  All copies were in my possession within five hours from the meeting.   With the continuing rhetoric from Central Speaks, I write you because I wanted you to know that my true intent was to come up with recommendations that would help the City of Central.  Through prayer and listening to the citizens, I decided not to step down from the committee.  If the mayor chooses to dismantle the committee, then that will be his choice, not mine.

The mission statement for the Attorney Study Committee is the following:  “To explore methods to provide legal services to the City of Central in the most cost efficient and effective manner, with the goal of uniformly serving and protecting the present and future needs of the Citizens of Central.”

On examining the legal bills from this year, I found that Public Records Requests made up approximately 33 percent of the legal bills.   As chairman, I wanted this group to review the facts and come up with guidelines that would assist us in this area.  We as a city must come up with procedures that do not allow attorney client privileges to hinder the public’s right to view the public records.  It seems to me that anything that has to do with government should be open to the press and the public.

I appreciate your continued support and ask that you would come to the meeting Tuesday, April 26th.

Sincerely, Tony LoBue