Counsel-less Council

Things have kept me busy and away from the blog lately, but the lack of my commentary sure hasn't slowed the excitement in Maplewood city hall. Earlier this week Maplewood's city attorneys resigned, citing ethical concerns with the new city council. If memory serves from recent council meetings, isn't our now-former lead city attorney the current head of the Minnesota Bar Association? The triumvirate has a special knack for driving away some of the most qualified personnel around.

According to an article in today's Pioneer Press, the straw that broke the camel's back was Longrie directing her henchman, Copeland, to enter the city clerk's office while she was gone and dig around for documents she wanted -- a flagrant violation of the confidentiality of information that is NOT public record (there's a reason they have the city clerk respond to data pratices requests rather than, say, just having an unlocked room with a "help yourself" sign, containing copies of all the city's documents).

As has come to be the usual practice, Monday's council meeting ran very long, and is set to be continued this evening at 5:00. Should be interesting to watch. While we may not have any city attorneys at the moment, I'm sure Diana can step in and fill the role herself for now -- after all, she's told us many times that she is an attorney.

I look forward to hearing how much money we will save by having interim city attorneys who will be paid less than Kelly & Fawcett. Maybe Diana has an employee or co-worker at her own law practice she could appoint out of the blue to be interim attorney. I'm sure a paralegal or office manager would do just fine, or maybe a crony of Diana's who thought about someday going to law school. As Copeland's resume demonstrates, real qualifications are not given too much weight in these "interim" hiring decisions.