The sum of Herbert legal expenses and services provided by West Windsor for a part-time job from fiscal year 2001 through five months of fiscal year 2014 (without June, July, and August figures) is approximately $3,320,804 for 13.5 years’ of legal advice.
Perhaps my expectations of citing and sharing: (1). The author who prepared the information; (2). Date submitted, title of the document in Excel; (3). This information with council and the media; should have been part of the mayor’s and voting Council members’ objective recommendations for retaining the Herbert firm.
My recommendation would be for all West Windsor staff to have on-line training via Khan Academy (free!) for Excel so a useful information baseline for this is created.
If the speculative worth of a jurist is services rendered and litigation avoided or defended, why is $3.3 million sufficiently inconsequential and the mayor so indifferent or passionate about retaining the Herbert firm’s services? This information has not been shared with the public.
By comparison, perhaps a chart in Excel of legal services/expenses should be created for Plainsboro, Cranbury, Robbinsville, Hopewell, Montgomery, South Brunswick, East Windsor, and Mercer County/ Mercer County Freeholders.
Money spent for the Herbert law firm should have been current as part of the vote by council, not three months in arrears. Yet the mayor has portrayed his recommendation to retain the Herbert firm as fiscally prudent. This is another example of mutually sloppy accounting and inattention to detail.
As with all vendors — particularly those of the mayor’s no-bid professional service contract variety — there should be both qualitative and quantitative analyses provided to council and the taxpaying public prior to any consideration for subsequent fiscal years. The fiscal year closes on December 31. It is the township administration’s responsibility to ensure (mostly) all bills are submitted — and accounted for — within the fiscal year. It should be part of any vendor’s contract.
Pete Weale
