I have written the following letter to the other two supervisors concerning the 1/4/2000 meeting:
Maidencreek Township Board of Supervisors
Re: Reorganization Meeting of January 4, 2000
As supervisor-elect the 1/4/00 reorganization meeting will be my first official meeting serving the residents of Maidencreek Township. As part of my preparation for this meeting, I contacted several lawyers to get some proposals on the job of solicitor. The current solicitor, up for reappointment, charged the township $35,581.78 last year (including the planning meetings). I think when an expenditure of this magnitude is made it is in our best interest the shop a little.
When looking at professional services it is important never to compare price alone. The efficiency and quality of the work must also be considered. For example, a lawyer who bills $100 per hour is no bargain compared to a lawyer who bills $120 or $140 if it takes him one and a half hours to do the same job these more expensive lawyers can do in one hour. Likewise we all can agree that less thorough work is a false economy, and almost always costs more in the long run. At this time I have received two alternative proposals for solicitor in writing. On our January 4th meeting we will have to evaluate which of these three proposals seems in the best interest of the taxpayers, whose hard-earned money we are spending.
The two other firms are Gring & Eves, and Orlando & Strahn. Both these proposals are worthy of careful consideration. I find the Orlando proposal especially intriguing, since they are quoting a fee of $140 per hour not to exceed our budgeted amount of $26,682 for year 2000. It seems if we had gone with a similar arrangement last year we could have saved the taxpayers as much as $8,719.32 I am enclosing copies of these proposals for your consideration before the 1/4/00 meeting.
In addition to the above, several residents have informed me that they are desirous of serving on some of the various committee jobs up for appointment. I have asked them to put this in writing, and will bring the same to our 1/4/00 meeting.
I look forward to serving the township residents along with both of you, and am hopeful that we can function as an effective team for the people of Maidencreek Township.
Sincerely,
-Roy Timpe
The position of solicitor was filled with a two to one vote for the previous solicitor.
-Roy Timpe
Paid for by Roy Timpe