Selectmen to Consider New Law Firm for Town Counsel

Only two years after rehiring attorney Dick Gelerman and his law firm Gelerman and Cabral as town counsel, the selectmen are potentially in the market for new representation.

Against the advice of town manager Bill Keegan to table the issue for another year, the selectmen voted 3-2 Tuesday night to put out a request for proposal (RFP) for town counsel.

Selectmen Jim DeVellis and David Feldman voted against creating a RFP.

In 2012, Gelerman and his law firm were rehired by the selectmen after a four year hiatus as town counsel, in part due to his familiarity with the town.

The board, which included DeVellis, chairman Lorraine Brue, and Ginny Coppola at the time, voted 5-0 to make bring Gelerman back as town counsel for a second time.

According to DeVellis, while Gelerman does not have a contract with the town, it was implied in the RFP, by Gelerman, and the board after the hiring in 2012 that Gelerman would represent the town for at least three year with the board potentially doing a RFP three-four years down the road.

“I’m not sure what the advantage is of sending out an RFP is unless it’s something I’m not aware of and things aren’t working out. Why wouldn’t we wait for the obligation we had initially for three years?” DeVellis said. “We got a counsel and it’s working well. It kinda puts him in an awkward position.”

Town Manager Bill Keegan recommended dropping the issue until next year when a possible RFP was expected.

“If there was an implied term and there are no issues, I would say lets table this until the implied term ends or if a problem arises,” Keegan said.

Coppola, John Gray, and Brue supported the creation of an RFP, citing Gelerman’s style as the reason.

“I know we had a difficult fall. I think there is a difference in style in what I expect from town counsel and what Dick offers. He is a conciliatory attorney. He tries to get deals done, sometimes I wonder if we’re getting the best representation for the position of the board of the town so I would like to see what’s out there,” Gray said.

Coppola added that she does not feel that Gelerman has not represented the board to her satisfaction.

“I have since felt that maybe he’s too accommodating. Maybe I would like to see a town counsel that is more responsive to the concern, needs, and orders of selectmen and other boards,” Coppola said.

Brue said she has had conversations with other boards concerning Gelerman but would not go into specific issues or incidents which led to recommending the creation of a RFP.

DeVellis said he has not heard of any complaints or issues that any board has had with Gelerman.

“If people aren’t happy, I just haven’t heard it. To do a RFP from hearsay from other boards and when we haven’t discussed, there’s a lot of danger,” DeVellis said.

If a new firm is brought in, this would be the third change in town counsel since 2008. Gelerman acted as legal counsel for the town from 1978-2008 before returning in 2012.

“There’s a danger to keep changing town counsel. Not a lot has changed in the last two years where it’s not a good fit and my experience with the previous counsel was a litigious nature. I think if we had that mentality we would be a lot worse off,” DeVellis said.

A request for proposal will be developed by Keegan for the selectmen.