Skokie’s Village Board on July 17 voted to retain an outside legal firm to assist the village’s attorneys, over the objections of the board’s sole independent trustee, who said board members had agreed on May 15 to keep legal work in-house and expressed concerns about the outside firm’s work with the village’s Ethics Commission.
The 4-1 vote means the legal firm Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, Ltd. will help oversee the Ethics Commission, fulfill Freedom of Information Act requests and could possibly help defend the village against an Open Meetings Act lawsuit, Village Manager John Lockerby said.
Trustee James Johnson, the only board member who does not belong to the Skokie Caucus Party, said he wants to keep legal work inside the village whenever possible and pointed to trustees previously agreeing to that on May 15 when discussing how the village will move forward with appointing its staff attorneys.
“There was one point of unanimous agreement at that meeting. All of us agreed our village’s legal services should stay in-house,” Johnson said. “All of us agreed we should avoid outsourcing legal work whenever possible, but that’s what we’re voting on tonight.”
Under the proposed agreement, Johnson said the village is outsourcing a large chunk of work. He said he disapproved of allowing the legal firm to oversee the Ethics Commission, which recently dismissed three of Johnson’s complaints.
The three complaints Johnson submitted were surrounding activities by Mayor George Van Dusen and Chief Corporation Counsel Michael Lorge’s regarding the election reform referendum, Lorge and Assistant Corporation Counsel James McCarthy allegedly asking Johnson to drop out of the election in exchange for a village commission or advisory board seat and McCarthy allegedly supervising campaign activities while at work.
Lorge, Van Dusen and McCarthy are all members of the Skokie Caucus Party, which opposed the election reform referendum.
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Lockerby said an outside attorney was selected to oversee the Ethics Commission because the complaints were against McCarthy and Lorge, who are two of the village’s highest-ranking attorneys. This was to avoid a conflict of interest, Lockerby said.
Johnson said the Ethics Commission, an advisory commission made up of volunteers without any binding authority, shouldn’t need legal counsel. Lockerby said the attorney has served as an advisor to ensure the commission follows state ethics codes and village codes.
Johnson commented that James Ferolo, an attorney and president of KTJ who has been sitting in on Ethics Commission meetings, doesn’t allow the ethics commission to partake in its assigned responsibilities and does a considerable amount of work for commissioners, such as responding to emails sent to the commission.
“I understand that Mr. Ferolo was brought in to bring our Ethics Commission up to speed and ensure Open Meetings Act compliance but that is not all Mr. Ferolo has been paid to do,” Johnson said. “For months, Mr. Ferolo has been paid to essentially run the commission. Instead of allowing commissioners to do pretty much any of the work they’re responsible for, the village has been paying Mr. Ferolo to do pretty much (everything).”
“I can report that I have personally witnessed Mr. Ferolo repeatedly and consistently encourage commissioners to not provide recommendations to the Village Board. To this day, the Ethics Commission has never sent a recommendation to the Village Board,” Johnson said.
Lockerby said the village didn’t have contact or history with the legal firm prior to contracting with them to oversee the Ethics Commission.
Skokie’s Ethics Commission is chaired by Jonathan Minkus and its members are Rev. Richard Lanford and Rabbi Leonard Matanky. Minkus is a criminal defense attorney with degrees from Loyola University of Chicago and the Chicago-Kent College of Law, according to his commission application form. Lanford is the pastor at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Skokie and Matanky is dean of the Ida Crown Jewish Academy, according to their commission application forms.
Lorge also said KTJ may assist the village in other litigation matters, including recent filings alleging the village broke the Open Meetings Act. Chicago resident Edgar Pal sued the village on June 23 and alleged it neglected to distribute closed session recordings that were the subject of an Open Meetings Act violation with the Illinois Attorney General.
During the meeting’s public comment section, Skokie Caucus Party Vice Chair Jeff Burman voiced support for retaining the legal counsel saying it would be difficult for the internal legal team to fully understand every legal scenario since the legal industry is so complex.
“It’s clear that one of our trustees … doesn’t recognize that the legal profession is so complex that no inside legal department can have all the expertise required to know all the various matters,” Burman said. “I want to thank you for wisely going out and hiring experts to defend this village.”
During the public comment period, resident Emi Yamauchi thanked Johnson for raising concerns and expressed frustrations regarding the cost of maintaining the legal firm. She said the village should not be paying legal fees to combat the Open Meetings Act complaint.
“If the judgment goes against the board, are we going to appeal?” Yamauchi said. “Is that going to be more legal services we’re shooting ourselves in the foot with? As a taxpayer I see this as money down the drain because we are not talking about an issue of principle … what we’re fighting about is these (roughly 20) minutes (where the village allegedly broke the Open Meetings Act).”
Skokie resident Jerry Brozak questioned why the village doesn’t release the minutes and end the litigation.
“It seems to me as a taxpayer that we’re trying to cover something up (despite speaking values of transparency),” Brozak said. “I don’t know why we don’t open up the minutes and be done with the litigation. What principle are we trying to establish?”
Van Dusen and Trustee Khem Khoeun were not present at the July 17 meeting where the vote took place.
The Board of Trustees approval comes after the village spent roughly $14,000 on KTJ’s legal services in the past year, which is joined by roughly $8,000 in unpaid invoices, Lockerby said. Lockerby said the invoices didn’t previously need Village Board approval because staff can spend up to $25,000 without asking the board, but staff was now seeking approval to retain KTJ since the $25,000 threshold is approaching.
Skokie’s approved contract with KTJ doesn’t have a “do not exceed” limit for spending. Lockerby said it can be difficult to anticipate the village’s legal services needs because the village can’t anticipate ethics complaints, FOIA requests and other litigation matters.
KTJ will charge Skokie $350 an hour for partner time and $250 an hour for associate employee time, a village memo prepared by Lockerby stated. Ferolo will serve as Skokie’s primary contact under the approved agreement.