A letter from the committee appointed by the mayor on June 5, 1997, consisting of Trustee Bee, acting as chairman, and Trustees Kettner and Asselta, to study whether or not changes or additions needed to be made to the Village's policies on information provided by independent contractors in hiring them to provide services for the Village and the Village counsel's billing practices, was discussed at the Feb. 5 Board of Trustees meeting. Trustee Torino has expressed concern at the last several meetings as well as in memos to his fellow trustees that the bills presented to the Village by Village Counsel Fishberg were too vague and that he believed the Village should implement stricter guidelines in its billing policies. He also had expressed the desire to see a formalized code implemented which would require independent contractors under consideration for work for the Village to disclose any relationships between Village staff or officials and contractor personnel, thus preventing what could be seen as a conflict of interest.

In response to Trustee Torino's concerns the committee reviewed the Village's standing policies and New York State statutes, documents provided by Counsel Fishberg, and documentation from the Village administration. The committee reported that it was their opinion that, "additional Village legislation is not recommended. Existing law substantially addresses many of the Committee members' concerns pertinent to the inquiry. Additionally, the sheer variety of vendor services makes it difficult to create legislation applicable to all." The committee instead recommended that these concerns be addressed case-by-case with "specifications in contract documents. For example, certain service contracts may call for explicit 'confidentiality' clauses rather than reliance upon more implicit understandings." They also suggested that the Village can, "...require representation in certain vendor contracts of 'no prior municipal defalcations.'"

The committee urged the Village to rely more heavily upon "references and prior experience" rather than "requiring disclosure by a vendor of every conceivable 'relationship' with all Village representatives." The members argued that the responsibility of screening vendors should fall upon the head of the appropriate department within the Village and also with the Village Administration, Village Auditor, and Village Counsel. The committee concluded that they were satisfied with the Village's policies regarding independent contractors as they now stand.

In addressing the concerns about Counsel Fishberg's billings of the Village, the letter noted that the committee "includes two prior Village Finance Commissioners and an attorney who regularly bills legal fees to municipalities." The committee expressed their "overall" satisfaction with the "existing level of detail and task assignment structures reflected in the current billings of Counsel." They added that they are "gratified to learn" that Counsel is attempting to meet Trustee Torino's requests for greater detail. Cullen and Dykman was highly praised by the committee for the extent of their services to the Village and was credited with Garden City's "enviable reputation as a difficult defendant." The relationship between the Village and the law firm was described as enabling the firm to "have not only an 'institutional memory' but a level of corporate trust on the part of its client Village..." The committee urged counsel to continue to execute his judgment in these matters and even suggested that the mayor "consider the appointment of a 'Trustee/Liaison'" to what they termed the Village's "Law Department" (a term indicating the "breadth of services provided by Cullen and Dykman").

The report was a glowing review of the Village's policies and practices and called for no legislative alterations to its practices concerning either independent contractors or billing by counsel, except to express that they supported Counsel Fishberg's efforts to list items in Cullen and Dykman's bills in accordance with the level of explicitness urged by Trustee Torino. Cullen and Dykman was praised and even viewed as a virtual department within the Village itself by the members of the committee. The levels of trust between the Village officials and their staff's ability to handle matters of contracting on a case-by-case basis were reaffirmed and counsel's role in this process was also reemphasized.

The next Board of Trustees meeting will be Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. in Village Hall.