District
hires labor lawyer
Phillipsburg school board's
choice not unanimous, though.
Friday, August 19, 2005 • By PRECIOUS PETTY •
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG -- The Phillipsburg School
Board at a special meeting Thursday night voted 9-3 to hire
labor attorney Richard Bauch pending a written
contract.
Bauch, of the law firm Schneck, Price,
Smith & King LLP in Morristown, N.J., will handle the
school district's contract negotiations with teachers,
custodians and other workers represented by the Phillipsburg
Education Association, business administrator Bill Poch
said. Bauch's contract is retroactive to July 1 and will end
June 30, 2006, Poch said.
A written contract detailing Bauch's
duties and fees will be drafted and presented to the board
for approval immediately, Poch said. This is the first year
Bauch will work under a written contract since the district
first sought his services in 1996.
Board members Kevin DeGerolamo, Thomas
McGuire and Paul Rummerfield opposed hiring Bauch. All three
men said they would have preferred to see a written contract
before making a decision on the matter.
"It's not anything against Mr. Bauch. I
think he does a great job. We just want to get a final
description of his job duties first," DeGerolamo
said.
Rummerfield noted that board policy
requires a written proposal detailing a consultant's
objectives, tasks and procedures be submitted to the board
before that consultant is hired.
When the board last reviewed a bill for
Bauch's services, members noticed the attorney had performed
and charged the district for services outside his area of
expertise, Rummerfield said.
"Mr. Bauch, he's been doing other things
than labor, maybe things he shouldn't have been looking at,
maybe things our board attorney should have been handling,"
McGuire said.
Poch said Bauch charges $150 an hour and
that the district paid him about $135,000 last school year.
All four attorneys employed by the district earned a total
of about $300,000 last year, he said. Aside from the board
attorney and Bauch, the district also employs special
counsel Richard Shapiro to handle its Abbott issues and
David Rubin to handle its athletic issues. None of the other
attorneys have written contracts with the school district,
Poch said.
Over the last nine years, the district
has paid Bauch more than $1 million for his services -- an
average of $113,000 annually, Rummerfield said. Over the
last five years, the district has paid Bauch more than it
paid Superintendent Gordon Pethick, Rummerfield
said.
Reporter Precious Petty can be reached at 610-867-5000 or
by e-mail at ppetty@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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