I would like to list some of the in efficiencies I have witnessed by our City Solicitor.
I first became aware with the Hearne property Mr. Wilber's inefficiencies dealing 2 blows to the residents in this area.
The City Attorney's Office failed to advertise this annexation. This same office failed to deliver the plans to Maryland State Department of Planning.
Mr. Wilber did nor release the negative letter from the MD State Planning Office mentioning a suit to Council Members if the plan was approved.
Just recently Mr. Wilber did not give Council any advice on the Ethics charges against 2 Council Members.
He was present when it was discussed and gave no opinion. It was my understanding a simple Google search showed it was illegal in Maryland to remove these benefits.
For this blunder, tax payers paid Wilber, Lore Chambers & Mr. Pick to attend the hearing before the Ethics Commission.
Some residents of Salisbury tried in court to get 4 to 2 enforced. Judge Davis said the law appears to favor the landlords. Mr. Wilber wrote these laws.
The next two instances Mr. Wilber made the City pay twice for his poor work. He was paid for his advice and then again to defend and LOST BOTH times.
The first was Stu Leere's battle with the Historical Society. We taxpayers paid Mr. Wilber to go against Mr. Leere. Mr. Leere defended himself without an attorney. Mr. Wilber took the case all the way to the court of special appeals. Mr. Leere WON.
Then we have the old Mall case. The property was improperly zoned with Mr. Wilber's advice. Again, citizens challenged this and won. To this day I do not understand Mr. Wilber.
Defended this case and represented the developers. Mr Wilber does not represent us, the taxpayers of Salisbury. He represents special interest groups not the tax payers, let them pay for him.
17 comments:
Thank You Dott Truitt! I too have observed that Mr. Wilber has written legislation then declared he could not defend it. Nice job if you can get it! Time for the City to move on and find new legal counsel.
Once again Barrie and Wilber have a loophole in the Charter. Mayor Ireton actually _can_ fire Wilber. No problem, no cause necessary, although there is plenty. The problem? To hire a new attorney will require the "consent" of the majority of the City Council. Who sees that happening?
You want real change? We can only get it if the city council changes. Hold on for another 18 months, and then let's vote out Comegys and Smith. That's the only way we will get real change.
Let's hope "Easy Street" for Wilbur is coming to a dead end.
Old Mall zoning legislation:
Wilber wrote it, said it was good, defended it in court (lost - it was no good), rewrote it.
I'm guessing about $100,000 for the whole thing. Thanks, Wilber.
And thank you, Dot, for reminding us how ineffective our city solicitor really is, except for padding his own pockets.
Why wait for 18 months? Why not get a petition going to get these bozos off city council? And don't have the city clerk verify names and addresses either, like happended last time. How stupid was that.
Petition will require more signatures than people who voted in last election. City voter lists need to be purged first of the dead and moved, so you don't need to get so many signatures.
Still think being the Mayor is a part time job, $25,000.00 is a joke.
Wow! If more people had the guts to do what this woman did!
Bravo! Bravo!
By the way, in Maryland, most of you can be fired at any time for NO reason.
In Maryland, most people are "at will" employees. Not sure about Wilber, would depend on whether or not he has a "contract" and what the contract says.
How do city voter lists get purged? Can city voters volunteer to do this type thing, especially if no on else will move on it and do it? I would be willing to volunteer for something like this.
There is a perplexing and possibly very disturbing aspect of the City's conduct in regard to the health insurance benefit received by certain members of the City Council.
Sometime last year the City Administrator, John Pick, asked the City Attorney, Paul Wilber to provide advice about whether the City could or had to pay the cost of that coverage. His e-mail message to Wilber, which I have not seen (yet), states that the question had been raised by Council members Louise Smith and Gary Comegys. This message seems to have come to the attention of the Council members who were recently the victims of the ethics attack by Jonathan Taylor as they were preparing for the hearing on that charge – Pick did not send it to Ms. Cohen or Ms. Campbell, and they remained unaware of it until very recently.
And now that Smith and Comegys are claiming that they had no involvement in the request being made, Mr. Pick seems to have recanted – he now suggests that then (now the former) Mayor, Barrie Tilghman, initiated the request for advice.
What we don't know at this point in time is when (or, even, whether) Wilber provided advice in response to the request, and if he did so what he said.
Wilbur did respond to that request. The document is out there, you just need to get a copy of it. Was this presented to the Ethics Board?
Ireton should consult with Barrie about how she canned the prior city attorney as soon as she was sworn in back in 1998.
Is this lady married? I think I'm in love!
If the council won't appoint a new attorney, I'd say the city having no lawyer becomes their problem. Maybe cause for getting their azzes bounced.
If someone wants that memo Wilber wrote, there's probably a form to fill out that you can get it. Call the city clerk. She knows everything about things like that.
11:35 Suggestion for Ireton to ask Barrie how she canned the prior city attorney. Isn't Ireton qualified to run this City? Lots of Luck!
Anon 11:35, it was possible for Barrie to can Eaton because the Code permitted that. After 12 years under Barrie, the Code has undergone countless changes so now the current Mayor can't do what Barrie previously did.
All:
Robert Eaton was far and away better than Wilber. It's too bad Ireton does not have the stones to can him like Barrie did to his predecessor.
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