The City of McComb spent six years in court to boot state representative and former selectman David Myers from the city board in a legal battle over his concurrent service.
But according to a majority of city board members, the city’s continued legal representation was never authorized.
Selectmen on Tuesday voted 5-1 against paying $73,838 in legal fees to attorney Norman Gillis Jr., who represented the city in the case.
The vote came despite comments from City Attorney John H. “Bubber” White that the fees were discounted by about 40 percent and a letter stating he thought the fees should be approved.
Selectman Danny Esch, who was represented last month by Gillis at an unrelated city board hearing concerning Esch’s residency status, cast the lone vote favoring payment.
Mayor Zach Patterson, rallying opposition, said he “respectfully disagreed” with White and argued that Gillis pursued the case “pretty much on his own.”
The city board hired Gillis to represent it in the dual office case against Myers in 2002.
“There is no record that I can find in any form or fashion that we contracted with Mr. Gillis for these services,” Patterson said forcefully, offering his understanding of the case’s history before the board.
“We agreed to pay Mr. Gillis a sum of $12,500,” he said. “You gave him $2,500 and later agreed to pay him a check of $10,000. He returned the check to you and said that was an insult to him. … There was a walkout on this matter. … This board was split, and, oh, by the way, on racial lines in this matter. … Mr. Myers and (former Selectman Warren Ellis Gilmore) were on record that they were not going to pay Mr. Gillis any money to pad Mr. Gillis’ pockets.”
Former Mayor Tom Walman “said he would vote it down … he then abstained … he was then called a coward by Mr. Gilmore,” the mayor added. “That was a matter of record, and it made headlines, and I can show you the headlines if you want.”
The recap followed a terse, but brief discussion of the subject at a work session the previous night.
“I’m not putting the blame on anybody,” Selectman Robert Earl Smith said Monday. “But when you drug it out through six years, nobody really asked him, ‘Mr. Gillis, where are we now in fees?’ ”
“It was presented, but it was presented before the state department and all these other departments got involved in it,” Esch said.
“But he didn’t keep the board informed,” Selectman Melvin Joe Johnson said. “That would have been more as a person concerned about the community of McComb. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
Selectman Wade Lamb, meanwhile, asked why the matter was even before the board, saying that if Gillis hadn’t been hired to continue pursuing the case, there was no reason to pay him, and that if Gillis had been hired, then the bill belonged with other vendors’ fees in the claims docket.
He reiterated that line of thought Tuesday.
“I did not hire Mr. Gillis, just as you did not,” Lamb said to the other members of the board who were not in office when the case began.
“So why are we voting on paying him? Any other vendor just turns in a bill and gets paid.”
“We will vote,” Patterson responded.
“We will not offer anyone an open checkbook and say ‘fill in the blanks.’ ”
Patterson then said he had also talked with Gillis shortly after taking office in 2007 to advise him against running up a large bill, and said concerns had been shared among Walman and former city administrator Sam Mims as well.
“Now all this other talk that you may have heard about me pursuing David Myers and running up to Jackson and all this stuff” is false, Patterson said. “Since we’ve been so good at getting the testimony … I suggest that you go and talk to (Mims and Walman).”
Lamb, though, said the core question remained unanswerable by those not involved in discussion of hiring a lawyer when the Myers case began.
“How was the man working for the city?” he asked. “That’s what I want to know.”
Gillis said today that he didn’t disagree with the statement that he hadn’t kept the city up to date on fees, but also said that city minutes should reflect that he was hired for a time and work basis along with an additional $15,000 related to appeals, and that the hire was made with the understanding that he would pursue the case to its conclusion.
He also agreed that Patterson had met with him in early 2007, but said the message wasn’t about quitting the case if costs got too high.
“He wanted me to get rid of David Myers,” Gillis said.
