New attorney to sit in on property talks

New attorney
to sit in on
property talks
Marlboro continues effort
to buy 400 acres at former
hospital site on Route 520
BY LARRY RAMER
Staff Writer

A new player has joined the negotiating team that is attempting to arrange Marlboro’s purchase of a large piece of state-owned land.

Michael Gluck and Andrew Bayer of the township attorney’s office will sit in on negotiations Marlboro is conducting with state representatives about purchasing the 400 acres of land on Route 520 that formerly housed the Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital.

The state closed the hospital in 1998 after about 60 years of operation and Marlboro officials have been trying to purchase the land, which lies entirely within the township, since that time.

The law firm of DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick, Cole and Wisler has represented Marlboro in the hospital negotiations for just over two years. At a Township Council meeting on Jan. 15, Gluck said a representative of the township attorney’s office would not charge Marlboro for "helping out" with the negotiations regarding the hospital property.

Marlboro’s township attorney, which came on board earlier this month, is the firm of Gluck, Walrath and Lanciano.

The billing practices of the DeCotiis firm, which has charged Marlboro $200,000 so far for its role in dealing with issues related to the hospital property, were questioned last month in a series of articles published in The Record of Bergen County.

The newspaper reported that Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo believed that "Taxpayers were getting gouged by lawyers (including DeCotiis attorneys) who charged whatever they wanted, double-teaming routine work sessions that could have been handled by a single lawyer."

"‘The firm (DeCotiis) was sending three and four people to meetings and they were having social gatherings more than anything else," The Record quoted DiVincenzo as saying.

The Record also reported that DeCotiis has charged taxpayers $230 an hour for accessing voice mail and $75 an hour for employees of the firm to deliver papers.

A source quoted by The Record said Gluck left the DeCotiis firm because he was "disgusted" by that firm’s billing practices.

Asked about this issue, Gluck said he or his associates would review the bills submitted by the DeCotiis firm to Marlboro.

Gluck recommended that Republican Mayor Robert Kleinberg retain DeCotiis as Marlboro’s representative in negotia­tions on the purchase of the hospital property.

Kleinberg said he decided to retain DeCotiis because Gluck determined it would be counterproductive to interrupt the ongoing negotiations. However, the mayor said he has received various con­cessions from the DeCotiis firm regarding its billing practices.

DeCotiis is reducing the fees it charges the town and will no longer charge Marlboro for answering brief phone calls from township officials, travel time or for two lawyers attending the same meeting, Kleinberg said.

The mayor added that every law firm that works for Marlboro will now follow these rules.

"This will result in considerable sav­ings to the taxpayers," the mayor said, adding that he will personally review all legal bills submitted to the township.

"If we get charged [by DeCotiis] for an­swering voice mail or other clerical tasks they will be brought in and challenged and won’t get paid for it," said Mitch Jacobs, who is a spokesman for the mayor and an attorney. "If they insist on getting paid for it, they won’t represent the town anymore."

Jacobs said the attorneys who will re­view the DeCotiis bills when they are re­ceived by Marlboro will be able to deter­mine if they are appropriate.

Democratic Council President James Mione and Democratic Councilman Barry Denkensohn have praised the DeCotiis firm’s work on the hospital negotiations several times over the last six months.

In another decision involving legal representation, Kleinberg said he would nominate Gluck’s firm to replace the firm of Goldzweig, Farrell and Green as Marlboro’s representative in its dealings with the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH).

The mayor said he was making the change because Gluck’s firm has more experience than the Goldzweig firm in negotiating COAH matters.

Denkensohn noted that Marlboro has a deadline of March 31 to submit a new affordable housing plan to COAH.

COAH issues "are a cause of concern for us, because not only do we have an impending deadline, it is important be­cause if we do not meet the deadline we open up the township to builder’s remedy lawsuits. That cannot happen because it will destroy the township in terms of overdevelopment," Denkensohn said.

A builder’s remedy lawsuit could allow a builder to construct more market price homes in the community than might oth­erwise be allowed in order to offset the cost of providing what is called affordable housing units in a development. The af­fordable housing units are sold at below market prices to people whose income meets regional guidelines established by the state.

Bayer said he has been briefed on the COAH issues and will make certain that Marlboro submits a new plan to COAH by March 31.

Kleinberg’s appointments regarding legal representation must be approved by the Township Council before they can take effect.