Let's hope the new council takes some serious thought into appointing our new solicitor. The last council just reappointed D'Andrea to the position with no other bids from other attornies. The new council should take bids from attornies who maybe interested and then pick the best man/woman for the job. Taking bids is the way that towns work through this process of appointment. Not just appoint their friends to the position.

Bids? Like bids for studies and etc. Giving to the same company that hired the town administrator and they were not the low bidder?

BIDS? like just renewing contracts at the transfer station?

How soon they forget!

It is not a company they use. They request bids from interested attornies direclty and go from there. Bids like which attorney charges what for what and for what experience they may or may not have. Getreal, you always have such ridiculous comments it makes everyone really wonder just how old you are.

Do not change the subject, you are the one with the ridiculous comments and probably still mad because the people have spoken and elected a real council. You want to talk about ridiculous lets talk about previous council.

Concerned Complainer, so it is alright to hire companies you use or have used without bids? Tell me how this is ok..

A town council has always chosen its legal counsel in the way they think best. Some chose to solicit resumes, others conducted interviews, some appointed solicitors based on past performance. The council must be comfortable that the solicitor will give them solid, unbiased, legal advice at a reasonable cost. Above all, it must be someone in whom they can place their faith and trust. As anyone who has sought legal advice will attest there are a lot of intangibles that go into hiring an attorney. Cheapest is not alway best and reasonable people can always disagree about who has the best "qualifications". How the council comes to this decision is up to them. What I find troubling, Concerned Observer, is that you have been commenting on this site the past two years consistently defending Staven, Pedro, Kesson, etc., yet you never raised any "concern" about that council hiring Attorney D'Andrea without soliciting bids, hiring Attorney Petros without soliciting bids, hiring Attorney Liberati without soliciting bids or hiring perhaps the highest priced labor law fim in the state to negotiate a contract with a 12 person union, without soliciting bids. Now before the council has even had its first meeting you are prompted to comment on the as yet undecided process for choice of legal counsel. Forgive me it I think your concern is based more in partisan politics than in actual "concern". Let them choose their lawyer and get to work. There's a lot to be done.

Wow I did not know the old council did so much hiring with no bids as the Concerned Observer who has a liken to the defunct PCCC 4 has stated. Thank you Old Timer for a good old helping of truth and facts!

FYI - I did not think it was a wise decision to rehire D'Andrea when the past council did so. Bids should have been taken at that time as well. As far as hiring other lawyers, hiring lawyers with certain areas of expertise for certain legal issues makes perfect sense. Hiring lawyers for a two year contract is a different story. It is who can do the best job representing our town. The least expensive is not always the best answer. Staven and Pedro voted against rehiring D'Andrea and requested at that time that the proper process be taken when appointing the solicitor and the prosecutor. So now let's talk about facts.

My original post was hoping that the new council would go through the process of appointing the solicitor in a manner that would be most beneficial to the town. My fear is with the majority that holds the seats is that the process will not be done as it should be. Let's wait and see tonight if they take the proper course or if the games have begun already.

Concerned Observer you say "hiring lawyers with certain areas of expertise for certain legal issues makes perfect sense". I agree, but why does that mean there shouldn't be a bid process for that also? You claim that is the process "as it should be". If that's the only way to find the person "who can do the best job representing our town", then why shouldn't that be the process for other attorneys whose bills to the town will far exceed that of the Town Solicitor? You can easily check the websites of RI attorneys and see several who have expertise at least on paper equivalent to the ones hired. Certainly seems to me you think selecting an attorney through a formal "bid process" is "as it should be" when Staven and Pedro want to, but in other instances it's the beginning of "games".Your arguemnt that the Solicitor's position is a "different story" because it's for a 2 year term is false. The charter says the Solicitor serves at the pleasure of the Town Council. Therefore his/her contract cannot have a specified length and he/she can be terminated without cause at any time. There is more than one way to select an attorney and whatever the Council chooses to do tonight at least it's on the open part of the agenda and they will be doing it in public which is more than I can say for the previous council's hiring of Mr. Liberati or the labor law firm.

When you go with the low bidder you get what you pay for. Just look at the wind turbine.