Tempers Escalate as Selectmen Debate Town Counsel

While a vote to approve a draft for a request for proposals for town counsel by the selectmen passed 5-0 at last week’s selectmen meeting, the board very much remains split on why the proposal had to be created in the first place.

During a discussion of the draft of the RFP, tempers flared as selectmen Jim DeVellis questioned why the selectmen needed to look for a new law firm to represent the town while Ginny Coppola defended the need to request proposals.

Concerns from DeVellis included a concern that specific movements or incidents that justified the RFP remained unknown.

“That’s one thing we should have a little consistency, someone that has knowledge of the last two year and if we had a handshake deal for the last two years why not honor that if he didn’t do something egregious? Unless it’s broken and I haven’t heard anyone say that it’s broken,” selectman Jim DeVellis said.

Coppola claimed that one of her reasons for wanting to look at new town counsel was the way town counsel Richard Gelerman handled the negotiations for the Splitsville Luxury Lanes and Howl at the Moon settlement agreement.

According to Coppola, she and the rest of the board did not receive the final agreement until 4 p.m. on the day the board was expected to approve the agreement. During the April 1 meeting, the board discovered in the agreement that the funding for the costs of a police officer Patriot Place agreed to pay for was linked to the a community policing plan. The board requested and successfully changed that part of the agreement to have that position paid for as long as Patriots Place or its successor is operating instead of as long as the policing plan is in effect according to the minutes for that meeting.

DeVellis responded by saying that showed that the review process worked.

Selectman David Feldman said he would like to hear what the needs are for other boards in town.

“I think it would be good to talk to the other boards about their issues so we can take them into consideration when we’re looking at our options,” Feldman said.

Since 2012, Gelerman has served as Foxborough’s town counsel, returning from a four year absence. Gelerman was not present at Tuesday’s meeting.

At their previous meeting two weeks earlier, the selectmen voted 3-2 to create a RFP for town counsel. DeVellis and Feldman voted creating against the RFP.