Shaffer: Town has light legal load

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on March 05, 2010

The town spent in excess of $100,000 in the last year on its legal bills, primarily focused on issues related to development, land use and employment.

But Town Manager Larry Shaffer, during a recent presentation to the Select Board, said this expense is not something that should worry the elected officials. "This is a very light litigation load," Shaffer said.

Shaffer estimated that the town spent around $135,000 in calendar year 2009 on litigation. Shaffer's budget proposal for next year includes $110,000 for legal expenses, a $15,000 increase from the current budget year.

The town has retained Joel Bard of Kopelman and Paige, which helps to reduce the cost of legal fees, Shaffer said.

In fiscal 2009, the town spent $147,976 on legal fees, and so far in the current budget year has spent $69,222, which means Amherst is on track to spend $120,000, according to information supplied by Assistant Town Manager and Finance Director John Musante.

Officials gave a report divided into four sections to the Select Board: it showed active cases separated into litigation, outside insurance counsel and labor sections. The fourth section provides a list of matters that had been resolved in the last 12 months.

Several of the legal cases in which the town remains involved relate to development. Paul Cole's 11-unit Apple Brook cluster development at 1194 West St. is the focus of three lawsuits, while two lawsuits are still aimed at HAP Inc.'s plans to build the Butternut Farm affordable-housing project at 12 Longmeadow Drive.

There are just two active outside insurance claims, the first an alleged civil rights violation stemming from an August 2007 arrest of a person for being a minor in possession of alcohol, and the second related to the October 2006 arrest of resident David Abrami on a charge of violating the town's noise bylaw; Abrami's suit argues that the noise bylaw is unconstitutional.

Labor matters include separate cases about the termination of two police officers and the firefighters union complaint about changes to its members' health insurance benefits.

Among the settled cases:

* the Board of Health's efforts, through the Western Housing Court, to bring David Keenan's property at 28 Shays St. into a habitable condition;

* Karen Eddings' lawsuit against the animal welfare officer challenging a decision to euthanize her dog, which was resolved instead by banishing the dog from Massachusetts;

* getting money from the so-called Waxman settlement, a case in which the former Housing Authority Board's imposition of rent control on certain housing complexes was challenged.

The money finally released to the town has gone to a fuel-assistance program for low-income people;

* the town electrical inspector's termination in 2008, which was dismissed;

* and the firefighters union grievance about the way fire captains assigned, which was dismissed.