Holyoke councilors seek to define legal work of solicitor as President Kevin Jourdain, Mayor Alex Morse clash
By on November 17, 2012 at 12:00 PM, updated November 17, 2012 at 6:49 PM
But Jourdain was among councilors in February critical of Rodriguez-Ross for saying, during meetings that led to her being confirmed, that she planned to spend Thursdays working on her private-practice cases.
"We want 100 percent devotion to this position exclusive of all others,” Jourdain said during a Feb. 9 meeting.
The order the council will consider was sponsored by councilors Daniel B. Bresnahan, Linda L. Vacon and Jourdain. The order states the solicitor will "devote his or her full time" to city duties and will take on no outside work during the business work day that conflicts with solicitor duties, councilors said.
"She wouldn't be able to do any court work at all" unrelated to city duties, Jourdain said.
Rodriguez-Ross wrote in an email it was wrong to interpret the proposed ordinance to say it would prohibit the solicitor from doing legal work other than that for the city.
"That's not what was approved. No outside work during normal business hours," Rodriguez-Ross wrote.
The proposed ordinance would ban the solicitor from doing non-city work in court, but still allow for after-work-hours review of a contract for someone, for example, officials said.
Rodriguez-Ross' yearly salary is $70,000. The solicitor is appointed by the mayor but subject to City Council confirmation. The council voted 10-4 to confirm Rodriguez-Ross on Feb. 21.
Councilor at Large Aaron M. Vega and others have said Rodriguez-Ross works beyond the required number of hours per week for the job, with Vega saying he gets emails from her responding to questions late at night and early in the morning.
Morse wrote in an email that the proposed order says the solicitor would be unable to work on other legal work between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., but committee Chairwoman Rebecca Lisi and Jourdain said the proposal deliberately excluded specific times.
Jourdain said the solicitor is sometimes needed during night meetings. Lisi said that Councilor Joseph M. McGiverin noted during the discussion that solicitor was a job for which it was difficult to determine what is a normal business work day.
Morse questioned why the council was considering the proposal.
"Frankly, the City Council is overstepping its bounds. Elizabeth Rodriguez-Ross is one of the most intelligent and dedicated public servants I know, and Holyoke is lucky to have her as our solicitor.
"Council President Jourdain should shift his attention to more important city matters and hold the City Council's appointments accountable before playing politics with mine. I call on all city councilors to put politics aside, and work together for the good of the city," Morse wrote in an email.
Jourdain said producing ordinances like the one regarding the solicitor is exactly the council's role.
"We're in charge of the legislative function of the city. Apparently the mayor thinks he's in charge of that, too, along with everything else. What we do here is write laws. That's our job. What we do is we write laws to make sure everyone is accountable," Jourdain said.
"I don't take my marching orders from the mayor. Unless he didn't know, I've been here 20 years and I don't need him reminding me what's good for the city," he said.
Jourdain said he took Morse's reference to council appointments to mean Chief Assessor Anthony Dulude. A committee meeting is being scheduled to discuss the possibility of disciplining Dulude and Assessor Deborah J. Brunelle regarding the over-taxing of Macy's that forced the city to refund the department store nearly $960,000 in August. The council appoints the assessors.
The discussion will include Dulude's taking of a $1,000-a-year stipend from the city for eight years for a certification from a trade group that he actually didn’t have. Dulude is repaying the city with deductions from his paycheck, officials have said.
Chairman Peter R. Tallman said Thursday he hopes to schedule a meeting of the Public Service Committee about the assessors in December.
Jourdain said the council is handling the possible disciplining of the assessors with care, as it would with all appointees, to ensure individuals' rights are maintained.
Lisi said the dispute about the proposed order related to the solicitor was unnecessary. The sponsors filed the order in February and she should have ensured it was considered sooner, she said.
"It's my fault as committee chair that it hasn't been taken up until now," Lisi said.
