It's not often you're going to see me disagree with certain Council Member, both in the City or in the County. However, today and tomorrow just might surprise you quite a bit.
While many of you know me as Joe Albero the Blogger, most of you are unaware of my corporate experience. I have spent millions of dollars over the past 30+ years of my life on attorneys. Either for patents, opening businesses, defending myself and Family, or whatever, I've been around a lot more than most realize.
In the case of the City Council, waiting around until almost 10:30 PM tonight to learn the Council had not only let Paul Wilber go, the retained a new law firm and agree to pay the same rate as what they had been paying Paul Wilber's Firm.
I personally have a serious problem with that. I do not believe Mr. Tilghman has the wisdom Mr. Wilber has on Salisbury matters. Now don't take me wrong. Mr. Tilghman is a very fine lawyer. However, as a businessman I would have at negotiated a special rate for at least the first six months until they were able to get up to speed.
Nevertheless, the Council chose not to go that route and I'm confident there will be plenty of people out there challenging why such a deal was made. I do believe in time Mr. Tilghman will serve the City well. I am NOT on the City Council and I do NOT expect those members to tell me why they chose to do what they did. I'm simply stating I would have done things differently.
That being said, I have already spoken to several people who were very pleased to see Mr. Wilber go. Perhaps we'll get into some of their reasons at a later point. In the mean time, Mr. Wilber served the City for 14 years. In that time his Firm has seen a substantial rate increase and they have made millions of dollars from the City of Salisbury.
I do not, nor will I ever feel bad for Mr. Wilber, this is business. Someone said at one point during the closed session tonight, (talking about the Baltimore Colts) they just packed up and left in the middle of the night. I instantly replied, you mean like what's going on with Paul Wilber. Things got quiet really fast.
My point is, things happen. The Citizens elected certain people to run the City. They made a business decision. Letting anyone go is not easy. Hiring someone new will bring on serious criticism, that's a given. Business is business, the decision was made and every one needs to move forward. That includes the Mayor, Shields and Mitchell.
Now, it should be known that Mayor Jim Ireton chose to have nothing to do with the interview process tonight. Once again, he was invited, threw his hissy fit and let it be known he might not participate. He openly stated he thought it might not be legal for him to sit in on those proceedings and Mr. Wilber abruptly told the Mayor he was invited by the Council and it was perfectly legal. Mayor Ireton did not like that answer.
So tomorrow is a new day. WBOC, WMDT and the Daily Times were not present when the Council came back into open session.
In closing, for the record, if you were watching the final open session and saw the interruption, my apologies to all of you. I was the one who raised my voice. I was in the back of the room taking a picture, (shown above) of the Council when Kris Adams daughter Alex Adams turned around and said, "If you take my picture it will be the last picture you ever take". I responded by saying, "don't threaten me". She opened her mouth and said it again. Mrs. Adams then turned around as she continued to take video and put her camera in my face, THE PRESIDENT OF SAPOA. Mrs. Adams, not one of my children would ever be so disrespectful. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. Again, my apologies for the interruption to all of you as well as the Council.
Well, I can only hope some language was included in the contract about capping the fee. Wasn't one of the issues that Wilbur was making over and above, thus costing us tons of money. I can't believe they are paying the new guy the same. I am hoping to hear how this will benefit us. I was no fan of Wilbur, but, when making a change, there should be some obvious benefit....what is it council?
ReplyDeleteSometimes the lack of experience or lack of knowledge can be a plus.
ReplyDeleteThis lawyer is as good or better than Wilber already. He is not prejudice to some of the council members.
Let's face it , I've seen Wilber in action at a lot of the meetings and he appeared to be dumb as a brick. He never did his homework on any subject. He certainly was not confident and acted as though he was an aid or assistant.
Maybe the new lawyer will stay unbias and be a credit to the city.
"Law is clear" One of the very first things taught in business law.
We were ready for change.
cya wilber! lol. dirty rotten scanderal.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joe, for all you do!
ReplyDeleteHow can you know and say he is not prejudice. Was he not a council member's personal lawyer?
ReplyDelete7:55, if you stayed up to watch the end, you learned the answer is NO and all that huff and puff by Laura Mitchell and Shanie Shields was just B.S. Ireton too.
ReplyDeleteNo, he was not a personal attorney. Campbell put that silly story to rest, as did Spies with the announcement that his bogus citation had been recinded. Mitchell was using bs to try to get them not to vote. All she had to do was read the Charter to see that neither had a conflict. The important thing to note is that only landlords who don't live here spoke against this last night. What are they so afraid of? Good laws?
ReplyDeleteanonymous 8:28, you better believe it. SAPOA is hiding behind anonymous comments and you better believe they're afraid of "good laws".
ReplyDeleteCampbell offered campaign disclosure statements last night from both of her elections. You didn't see Shields or Mitchell doing that. I know why. Mitchell David (Captain Investments) had the nerve to suggest that those of us who live and vote in the city don't have a right to support our candidates of choice in an election. He did have plenty to say even though he isn't a Salisbury resident or voter. He just sucks money from our city and goes home.
ReplyDelete"personal attorney" is being thrown out without a clue as to what it means. Just because a lawyer may write up a will for you or represent you in a divorce does not make them your "personal attorney."
ReplyDeleteA "personal attorney" is more like a lawyer you have given full permission to make decisons for you including having access to bank accounts and medical records.
Mitchell, like Ireton doesn't do anything. They both rely on their star maker, Chuck to tell them what to do and how to do it.
ReplyDeleteJT is saying they should have searched nationwide for a lawyer. This is a perfect example of how uninformed people are about how the city government works.
ReplyDeleteThe mayor was too much of a chicken (or some other reason) to take our city back from special interest groups like SAPOA. I am a city voter and applaud the change. If you check, I think that you will find that the Bartol (sp?) woman who blasted accusations at Cohen, Campbell & Spies at a recent meeting is Laura's relative and landlord and also supported Shields' campaign - you didn't hear any disclosure about that, now did you? How about a little checking, Joe? As the worm turns:)
ReplyDeleteMitchell, Ireton, Shields and the Daily Times were exposed last night. All they did was try to smear the reputations of three council members and an upstanding attorney.
ReplyDeleteWe little people are counting on you, Joe, to not let this die. Watching PAC14 last night, I was mad enough to spit. Mitchell was especially stomach turning. Even made a snarky comment about how this or that about her would be "on a blog." She parrots everything from Dream Team I and II.
Dunn, of all people, is filing an ethics complaint against Tilghman? Let's see now, was it unethical when he sold the property at Sassafras Meadows? How about the $14 million dollar TIF to Natelson and Dzaman? Did he benefit in any way from the Old Mall debacle? Dunn, when running for office certainly had no respect for Mark and Susan Tilghman at that time, suddenly he has great personal and professional respect for them? Dunn has always been and will always be a liar and a stooge.
ReplyDeleteSnarky. What a great word. Dunn and Tilghman both owned stock in the Bank of Delmarva when business that could benefit their returns (personal financial gain) was being discussed. As I recall, it was Campbell who finally forced them to disclose. I also seem to recall that it was after votes had been taken and discussions had been had that probably had ties to the bank. Then there was the fact that Dunn and his father were owners of a property for which business was being conducted by the city, again, I believe there was a developer reimbursement tied to that with a price tag to us tax payers of over $1 million, maybe considerably more. Marlene Reneer was Dunn's treasurer. THe Renners got a sweet developer reimbursement deal too for a lift station at or near Marley Manor. As far as I know from the questions Campbell keeps asking about that, it is still unused by new annexations. If so,wouldn't be benefit for campaign treasurer that is beyond any benefit for the general public? Campbell drove reform of the finance department and the audit process. Remember the $10 million check that the city forgot to cash. Campbell is the one who told the taxpayers about that. I can see why Dunn and his cronies would want to do everything they can to discredit her and drive her out. Joe, you should do some investigative reporting into these things and go ahead and expose the dirty little messes that Dunn hopes we have forgotten. I predict that Mike Dunn is trying to set himself up to run for Campbell's seat.
ReplyDeletei think wilburrrrrr is still attorney for the town of pittsville.alot of shady deals going on down there too.water and sewer allotments being mishandled,multiple dwellings on one edu and no impact fees being paid to the town or to the county. the so called town clerk has quit and went back there so many times she has run into herself in the process. and one town commish has not been but to 1 town meeting in over a year but keeps his presence for the fire depts i want this swing vote. just as much drama and to the same tune as sby
ReplyDelete