Latest news with #Carmody&Moran
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Scranton School Board to vote on legal services Monday
Scranton school directors will vote to appoint a solicitor for the district on Monday while formally accepting the resignation of a former director. The district submitted a request for proposals for legal services in February. Two firms — Joyce, Carmody & Moran PC of Pittston and Bethlehem-based King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, the district's current firm — met the proposal deadline, according to a listing for the district on Superintendent Erin Keating, Ed.D., said in an email Thursday that legal services were part of the second tier of requests for proposals the district issued. 'The RFP for legal services was made public, and the process adhered strictly to the Board Operating Guidelines (BOG) regarding the hiring of a solicitor,' she said. John Freund remains the district's solicitor, Keating said. At last Monday's work session, board President Ty Holmes confirmed he instructed the district's administration to begin negotiations with Joyce, Carmody & Moran to provide general and special education legal services. Director Tara Yanni said the board should appoint a firm that is the most cost effective with the most experience in public education law. Yanni, comparing the proposals, said the firm the majority of directors want to go with costs $240 an hour, while the other is $200 an hour. She also said the firm that wasn't selected serves 32 districts and has the most experience. 'For that reason I am not in favor of the firm desired by the majority of this board,' she said. Director Catherine Fox pointed out an attorney from the firm favored by the board majority sent a letter to the board in July 2023 opposing them taking action on any significant contracts, including ones related to the district's execution of government functions — such as legal services, administration and other functions under school code — if they didn't need to be renewed or reconsidered until after a new board assumes office. She wondered if the board could take action on legal services before the contract for the current firm ends in December and a new board is sworn in. Fox also asked that a work-based retainer method be implemented to save the district money. She requested the board deny both bids as the firms aren't based in the city and that the bid process be redone with the requirement that firms be in Scranton. Fox also asked the board to find a solicitor that specializes in ethics or submit for an advisory opinion through the state Ethics Commission because of a conflict of interest between members of the firm favored by the board and other roles they hold in the city. 'I believe that this will ensure we that we do our due diligence,' she said. 'There's a host of concerns that have been raised and they cannot be answered by just us or the people at the table, they have to be raised by somebody with higher knowledge than we hold.' The school board hired Joyce, Carmody & Moran PC as its labor counsel in 2018, but the board shifted those responsibilities to the firm Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams in 2020. The board has used the district's current firm, King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, since 2022, when a Lackawanna County judge ordered the district to rebid for its bus contract. That year, Dunmore-based Pete's Garage filed suit after learning the district negotiated with Krise Transportation of Punxsutawney without giving other bidders the same opportunity. In addition, directors will also vote to accept Katie Gilmartin's resignation as director. Gilmartin, who had served on the board since 2017 and was board president in 2020 and 2021, submitted her resignation Friday. She did not provide a reason for leaving the board in her resignation letter to Holmes, which The Times-Tribune obtained through a Right to Know request. 'You have my very best wishes for the continued success of the Scranton School District,' Gilmartin wrote in her letter. She declined to comment earlier this week on why she stepped down in the final year of her second four-year term. Directors plan to advertise for the vacancy after voting to accept her resignation.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Candidate for Scranton City Council remains in race despite conflict claims
An attorney from Pittston-based law firm Joyce, Carmody & Moran last month sent a letter to NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania asking if its employee Todd Pousley would resign from his job if he won election to Scranton City Council, because the nonprofit receives funding from the city. The attorney, Brendan Fitzgerald, who also copied the March 5 letter to Scranton City Council and the Lackawanna County Board of Elections, claims Pousley's candidacy in the May 20 Democratic primary election for council 'presents a clear conflict of interest.' During council's meeting Tuesday, council President Gerald Smurl announced that council received the letter Friday and pointedly noted he believes it was meant to 'intimidate' the nonprofit NeighborWorks NEPA to force Pousley to withdraw from the primary. In an interview Wednesday, Pousley said he started a leave of absence March 27 from his job with NeighborWorks because of the concerns raised about a potential conflict of interest, but he remains a candidate in the Democratic primary for council. If elected, he acknowledged he would have a conflict of interest on any matter directly involving NeighborWorks, but the remedy to that would be for him to recuse himself from any such matter, discussion or vote, he said. * A March 5, 2025 letter from attorney Brendan Fitzgerald of the Joyce, Carmody & Moran law firm to NeighborWorks NEPA regarding the candidacy of NeighborWorks' employee Todd Pousley in the May 20 Democratic primary election for a omination to Scranton City Council. The letter, provided by Scranton City Council President Gerald Smurl, was copied to council. (Submitted) * A March 5, 2025 letter from attorney Brendan Fitzgerald of the Joyce, Carmody & Moran law firm to NeighborWorks NEPA regarding the candidacy of NeighborWorks' employee Todd Pousley in the May 20 Democratic primary election for a omination to Scranton City Council. The letter, provided by Scranton City Council President Gerald Smurl, was copied to council. (Submitted) Show Caption 1 of 2 A March 5, 2025 letter from attorney Brendan Fitzgerald of the Joyce, Carmody & Moran law firm to NeighborWorks NEPA regarding the candidacy of NeighborWorks' employee Todd Pousley in the May 20 Democratic primary election for a omination to Scranton City Council. The letter, provided by Scranton City Council President Gerald Smurl, was copied to council. (Submitted) Expand 'It's pretty clear the intent (of Fitzgerald's letter) is to get me to drop out of the race,' Pousley said. 'I've gotten a good lesson in politics the past few weeks and it's motivated me even more to run for city council, because I don't agree with those kinds of tactics.' During Tuesday's council meeting, Smurl said he believes that Fitzgerald does not live in Scranton and does not claim in the letter to represent any Scranton voter or client regarding his concerns about Pousley's candidacy. Smurl noted that Joyce, Carmody & Moran law firm partner Joseph Joyce is the vice chairman of the board of NeighborWorks. 'To make it even more interesting, attorney Larry Moran Jr., another partner in the same law firm, to my knowledge is and has been very involved with the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee in various leadership positions,' Smurl said. Smurl continued, 'So, one could view that this letter is an effort to intimidate the board of directors of NeighborWorks into forcing Mr. Pousley to withdraw from the Democratic primary race for Scranton City Council. I would hope this clearly is not the case.' Efforts to reach Fitzgerald, Joyce and Moran on Wednesday were unsuccessful. Smurl said he will have council ask NeighborWorks to do an internal investigation on the potential of a conflict of interest of Pousley serving on city council and suggested the nonprofit also should contact the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission for an opinion. Smurl also will have council Solicitor Tom Gilbride do the same and review the city's ethics code, and then render an opinion to council. Pousley said, 'There's obviously concern from my employer, my CEO and board of directors about the letter that was sent.' In an interview Wednesday, NeighborWorks' board President Teddy Michel said Pousley is on a leave of absence at least until the primary election. If Pousley were to win a nomination, NeighborWorks then would have to decide whether to extend the leave of absence. 'That'll be a decision how to navigate the next segment,' to the general election in November, Michel said. Asked whether the board found the letter intimidating, Michel said he did not want to comment on that or speak for the entire board, adding, 'I think the letter is the letter. The board will continue to do what it does best — be prudent and gather and assess facts.' Fitzgerald's letter said in part: 'Public officials should not be in positions where their personal or financial interests could compromise their decision-making. Ethical governance is essential for maintaining citizens' trust in their government. … If elected, he (Pousley) would be in a position to influence the allocation of city funds, including those directed to NeighborWorks. This dual role raises significant ethical concerns and the appearance of impropriety, which could compromise both his duties on the City Council and his responsibilities within your organization.' Pousley and five other candidates are vying in the primary for three Democratic nominations to appear on the Nov. 4 general election ballot, including incumbent Councilman Tom Schuster, Virgil Argenta, Patrick Flynn, Frankie Malacaria and Sean McAndrew. During public comment at recent weekly council meetings, Argenta has raised as an issue a potential conflict of interest of Pousley running for council. City funding to NeighborWorks for its Beautiful Blocks program in recent years was budgeted at $30,000 in each of 2022 and 2023, $40,000 in 2024 and $100,000 in 2025, according to the city's 2025 Operating Budget. Regarding Fitzgerald sending the letter to the county Board of Elections, county spokesman Pat McKenna said via email that the board 'does not consider ethics issues regarding individual races, but deals with election administration.'
