Oregon City Council last week agreed to rehire former Law Director Paul Goldberg, who retired last month.

Goldberg retired on April 30 and will collect his pension. He was rehired by the city at a reduced salary at a June 13 council meeting. He is required to wait 60 days after April 30 before returning to his post.

Under his new contract, Goldberg will receive an annual salary of $49,000 as law director. He was paid about $170,000 in that position before he had retired.

Mayor Mike Seferian withdrew the proposed contract at a previous meeting so members of council could review it in more detail.

Council member Sandy Bihn said she did not support rehiring Goldberg, partly because of his billing practices, though she emphasized he did not do anything illegal. For example, she said Goldberg billed the city over $700 to attend an awards banquet with former Mayor Marge Brown, former Administrator Ken Filipiak, and former Fire Chief Bill Wilkins during Brown’s administration.

“As I did a review of some of the invoices, I found one that was approved by the administration for payment. It was to travel to go to Columbus with the mayor, fire chief and administrator to attend an awards ceremony for the fire chief at the time. And it cost the city $735.63, plus mileage at .50 per mile,” said Bihn. “Either we need to look at how we administer the legal bills and what the responsibilities are of the law director, or do something different. I think most of us would think for someone to pay almost $800 to view an award is quite frankly not acceptable. And I think many in this community would find that equally objectionable.”

In addition, Bihn questioned Goldberg’s charge of “several hundred dollars” to meet with a member of council.

“I don’t know if all of us understand or always know how these bills are being administered and who’s charging for what. But certainly, in future contracts, or whatever we do with the legal services in the future, I think it’s really important to know what’s being charged and what’s not being charged, how this is being administered, and what is and isn’t allowed,” she said.

There were also times, she said, when Goldberg and a legal associate charged the city the full rate while they travelled for city business. “That’s pretty generous,” she said.

Bihn also questioned the city’s practice of paying Goldberg and his associates from the city’s hazardous waste fund, also known as the 975 account. That fund, which is supposed to be used toward environmental issues facing the city, was nearly depleted, she said. The fund is replenished with approximately $200,000 annually in fees the city charges Envirosafe Services of Ohio, Inc., a hazardous waste facility on Otter Creek Road, to dump hazardous waste into the company’s landfill. The State of Ohio gets $9 per ton of waste dumped in the landfill, and the city gets 10 percent of that, or .90 per ton.

“The hazardous waste fund I found particularly objectionable because it was just pretty much zeroed out every year, year after year. I wish those funds were available when something goes wrong for the community and for our waters,” said Bihn. “So I won’t be supporting this.”

Seferian noted he did not approve of the way the previous administration paid the law director in some situations. That has changed, he said, with his administration.

“I was uncomfortable with things that had happened myself,” said Seferian. “For the record, this administration didn’t allow any of the travel expenses. And you’ll see that the hazardous waste fund is building up now. Even though you may not think it’s the best course of action to have such high charges for meetings with council people, it was legal. That’s the way it was. So we have curtailed a lot of that, also.”

The new contract, he said, “is different than what we had before.”

“It’s a much better deal for the city. We are using this right now because it’s the best we can come up with until a time in the future when council may choose to appoint another law director under a different contract or a way of organizing how the law director will be paid,” said Seferian. “For the time being I do believe this is a very fair deal.”

Bihn said she is not suggesting anything illegal went on.

“I just think from a policy standpoint, it was a poor one,” she said. “I want to applaud this administration for pulling the reins in on the legal bills, especially the hazardous waste fund. You’re absolutely right. The funds are now growing. And many of the law bills have gone down. I just can’t quite come to grips with supporting and continuing something I just don’t feel was right.”

Bihn noted that Seferian has said at previous meetings that Goldberg would hold the position for a brief period. 

“I would hope that the president of council and others would figure out the course of action of what we want for legal services and how that should be administered,” she said.

“I will respect that your declining to support this was from things that happened in the distant past and what you have seen happen in the past,” Seferian said to Bihn. “That’s fine. Just let the record show that the things we did look over, we took it very seriously. From the beginning, we tried to have a cost savings there and we believe we did that. At the direction of council, we will pursue other options, whatever their desire is.”

Councilman Jim Seaman said taxpayers are saving over $100,000 with the new contract with Goldberg.

“It’s more than enough money to put a police officer on the road. So that’s a nice asset. That’s working in our favor,” said Seaman.

“I don’t know what responsibilities department heads have when bills are presented,” added Seaman. “I’m sure if I was the finance director, I would talk to the mayor and ask what was going on with a bill. The finance director should talk to the mayor and city administrator about issues of this nature. I do not agree with paying over $700 just to drive down to Columbus and back. That’s ridiculous and ludicrous. That’s not something our taxpayers are used to or could afford, as far as I’m concerned.”

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