Home › News › Local news
Naples attorney’s contract extended for two years
More Local news 
Share and Enjoy 
Naples City Attorney Bob Pritt will call City Hall home for at least two more years.
City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to extend Pritt’s contract for that duration, a decision that comes about three months before the contract was set to expire.
Extending the contract now means that Pritt’s firm, Roetzel & Andress, will freeze the current hourly rates for the two-year period. The firm charges $245 an hour for general legal services, and $280 an hour for litigation, or court, services. According to a 2005 contract, the firm has increased rates about $15 per hour each year. “We recognize that these are difficult times for local governments and we believe that this will provide predictability in budgeting for the next two years,” Pritt wrote in a letter to council.
Locking in the fees for the next two years could prove beneficial to the city since it is facing at least a $3 million shortfall in the general fund — where Pritt’s salary and legal services are budgeted — next year.
But just because council approved a contract extension doesn’t mean it’s not open to other options, namely hiring an in-house attorney rather than outsourcing.
Council approved Pritt’s contract with the caveat that Councilman Gary Price would be reviewing monthly billing statements and provide a report next year about whether an outside firm is the best use of city monies.
According to a memo from Pritt to council, “there is no significant savings in maintaining an in-house legal department.” Pritt compared the cost of maintaining an in-house attorney at three local municipalities — Bonita Springs, Fort Myers and Sanibel — before giving his opinion.
This year, the city budgeted $688,756 for all expenditures in the city attorney’s office. According to the comparison, Fort Myers has requested $912,500 for legal services next year, while Bonita Springs budgeted $567,517 for legal services in 2007.
The lion’s share of the contract is for general legal services. Pritt oversees all general legal services, which includes attending City Council and code enforcement meetings, counseling council members, the city manager and other staff members, and reviewing resolutions and contracts.
Demons next door? Your neighbor’s Great Dane took a nap in your flower bed and mistook the front lawn for a loo — and this was on a good day. The music next door may as well be under your bed. You’re wondering why the fruit is disappearing off your trees near someone else’s kitchen window. You have — or have had — neighbors from hell? Tell us about them. We’d like to know what neighbors drove you to the limits, and what — if it was possible with neighbors like that — solved the problem. You don’t need to give us your neighbor’s names, but we do want to hear your experiences for a story on the demons next door, and how to deal with them. Email 
Comments
This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below. Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. Break our rules, and we will ban you. No exceptions, no second chances. Read our privacy policy & user agreement.
Again "crony"ism at it's best. You can't tell me it wouldn't be cheaper and save taxpayer dollars by hiring an attorney, rather than contracting out. If Pritt believes there is no significant savings, then he should take a salary from the city and be an employee. At a time when everyone is hurting, Pritt's "gift" of freezing his hourly rate guarantees him work for the next two years. What a joke...
#1 Posted by Philly on June 5, 2008 at 6:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hardly cronyism ... The reason a municipality would hire a firm versus in-house counsel is that a firm offers a broad group of services that a single person could not provide. All lawyers are not litigators and most have one area of specialty. By hiring a firm you are able to draw upon the skills of multiple 'specialists' and their staff in dealing with diverse issues a city may face. By the way, these rates are very competitive ... local businesses are paying far more in fees for the services of top local firms.
#2 Posted by Nagator on June 5, 2008 at 7:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Post your comment
(Requires free registration.)