News

Birmingham school board votes to keep law firms

From The Birmingham News: 

The Birmingham school board decided Tuesday it will stay with the two law firms it has used on retainer for years rather than seek proposals from law firms for legal services.

The school board voted 6-2 to reject a document requesting legal service proposals that the board's finance committee had been working on since at least April. Howard Bayless and April Williams voted for it. Dannetta K. Thornton Owens was absent.

Bayless, chair of the finance committee, said it's the board's duty to constituents to pursue the lowest-cost, highest-quality legal services for the system.

"There's been no competition for this contract," Bayless said. "There's been no evaluation of other fees, or other firms that could potentially provide the service. So it's not created a transparent process for us. We continue to pay higher legal fees than other people pay."

Before the vote, finance director Arthur Watts told board members he projected a $450,000 to $500,000 reduction in legal fees in the current fiscal year. Through April, the school system has spent $254,695 less on legal fees than it did over the same period last year, Watts said.

The board retains the firms Waldrep, Stewart and Kendrick and Thomas, Means, Gillis and Seay.

In the first 10 months of 2007, the school system spent about $1.4 million in legal fees. It had the highest legal fees per student in the state last year at $107.80, nearly double that of second-place Anniston, which spent $56.72 per student.

Watts attributed this year's projected reduction to the board's decision in February to cap legal fees at a combined $100,000 a month. He also said it has helped that interim Superintendent Barbara Allen has been proactive in dealing with employee grievances.

School board member Odessa Ashley requested from Watts the figures on this year's legal fees. She said Tuesday that the reduction in legal fees is significant and that she's satisfied with the law firms the board uses.

Ashley, a member of the finance committee, voted last week to send the document requesting legal services to the full board.