When I saw the Board Packet online for the February 12th Board Meeting, there was a bill for $21,831 for the month of December submitted by Johnson and Rosati, our “new” legal firm. There was no active litigation during this time as the arbitration was already won by Mr. Winters. During this holiday period, there was a maximum of 22 business days which comes to an average of $992 each and every business day. I considered this billing to be on the high side.
I was already puzzled over the two letters I’ve received from Ms. Rosati, threatening to sue me because she didn’t like the questions I was asking at the Board Meetings. Since the first threatening letter was copied to the Board, I had already decided to find out if my funds as a township resident were being used to threaten to sue me! After seeing Ms. Rosati’s bill, I wondered how much Ms. Rosati may have charged the township to create her letters to threaten me, so off to the board meeting I went. I did ask for permission to speak at the February 9th meeting despite the atmosphere (read WELCOME TO THE POLICE STATE here), and asked the following questions at the Feb 9 board meeting:
Good evening. I have several questions that I would like to ask the board regarding the approval of Legal expenses for the month of January. The billing for Johnson Rosati is nearly $22,000 for about a month's work. At $175/hour, the billing comes to about 125 hours of legal work. If the billing was for 4 weeks it comes to about 31 hours/wk. There was no litigation and it occurred sometime during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. I guess one could say Merry Christmas. My questions are as follows:
> Please explain the basis and justification for the nearly $22,000 bill.
> Does the billing include the time for Ms Rosati to write the letter I hold in my hand threatening to sue me for the questions I asked at the last board meeting? One would conclude the purpose of the letter is to intimidate a resident.
> This letter was copied to the Supervisor and to the Board. I would like to know the names of the board members who had any discussions with Ms Rosati before it was mailed out.
> I would like to know the names of the board members who had no knowledge of this letter, before it was mailed out.
So now we have the police called on the residents and the new attorney hired by the board sending a threatening letter to a resident. Is this what is meant by the campaign promise: "If elected Supervisor, I will work hard to make sure the residents' rights are not trampled on, and they are shown courtesy and respect when dealing with Township Government?
Thank you.
I did not, and have not, received any answers to my questions. At that board meeting Trustee Brien Witkowski brought forth a motion to have the Carol Rosati's letter which threatened to sue me added to the agenda for discussion, but it was voted down
Advice to Trustee Witkowski – since you asked questions about Ms. Rosati in public, just be careful so that you won’t also get a threatening letter.
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