The lawyer who now represents Mayor Funky and a couple of other local legal eagals were finally paid from an old dispute in Jackson County.
The decision came after two years of meetings and public hearings that cost taxpayers more than $25,000, records show. The commissioners have expressed repeated frustration that the process dragged on . . .In a sense, this closes the door on even more of a legacy from the Kathryn Shields Days.
The fees were owed to lawyer James Wirken, who filed the suit against Stringfield on behalf of the legislators after Stringfield sued them for violating the open meeting law. Stringfield’s former aide, Bob WitbolsFeugen, filed a complaint saying the countersuit fees should be paid by the legislators, not the county. The ethics panel agreed, and both suits were eventually dropped.
The additional $25,000 in legal fees through last month that have been incurred at county expense include $2,200 to pay John Turner, the legislators’ legal counsel, and $23,000 to special counsel Jack Pletz, who represented the commission.
Still, one thing is clear: Whenever incompetent politicos dominate, Kansas City lawyer stay winning!!!
It would have been less expensive to enforce the Subpoena Duces Tecum, but then all of Jackson County would have to admit that the past two years delay was to help Legislators give WitbolsFeugen the runaround. Most Legislators never paid Wirken and he billed the taxpayers more that $7,800 for the counterclaim and got paid more that the disputed amount for appearances before the Ethics Commission.
ReplyDeleteWhen people get sick, they call a doctor. When governments get sick, they call a lawyer.
ReplyDeleteWho is this Pletz guy and what did he do to earn $23,000 of taxpayer money????
ReplyDeleteWho hired him?
What we can learn from the whole Jackson County-WittbosFeugen thing is that it can be VERY expensive for taxpayers when a highly offensive and controversial volunteer is brought in by an elected official.
ReplyDelete