Apparently political insanity isn’t limited to Prince William County. It appears that the lunacy has also struck the good councilmen and women of the Town of Haymarket. To encapsulate the situation, several months ago, the town attorney quit, abruptly. The council had to hire a new one. Who ended up getting hired? The very one who quit. Meanwhile, as of July 1, a new council is seated. They want no parts of the old quitter attorney so they will no longer be in need of his services. The cost to the people of Haymarket? Oh, around $30k in severance package.
Below is the letter sent to the people of Haymarket and the BAR by responsible members of the town council who are totally embarrassed by the entire situation.
Where are the ethics?
An Apology to the BAR and the Residents of Haymarket
In Haymarket’s long history, June 4, 2012 will likely go down as its lowest point since the burning of the town in 1862.
As the result of the town attorney’s abrupt resignation in March, the town council appointed an interim town attorney and issued a Request for Qualifications to all interested in assuming the office. An appointment was to be made by the new town council on July 2.
Eight highly qualified lawyers and law firms responded with comprehensive responses to the request.
Curiously, the prior town attorney also responded, throwing his hat back into the ring without explanation for his resignation. The applicants were invited to attend the June 4 town council meeting, presumably to introduce themselves as the issue was on the agenda.
Despite published provisions that a committee would be appointed to review the applicants’ qualifications and present their findings to the town council, in an act born of unparalleled arrogance and unprofessionalism, half of the town council with the aid of the mayor chose to summarily reject all of the applications and reappoint the prior town attorney.
This action was taken without so much as a mention of the lawyers present in the room, a group that represented the best Northern Virginia has to offer.
Moreover, to add insult to injury, those elected officials chose not only to dismiss the qualifications of those in attendance and the interests of the newly elected town council, but also left a bitter poison pill for the new council and the residents of Haymarket to swallow. Concerned that the newly elected council might undo their rash decision, this perfidious group included a provision under which, if fired, the newly re-hired town attorney would be due a severance package equal to six months of his average billing, a $30,000 penalty to any who would question their judgement but one paid for by the taxpayers.
To the members of the BAR we offer our most humble apology. The process was a sham and the manner in which you were treated was unprofessional at best and in our estimation shameful and a source of profound embarrassment for the town.
Similarly, we offer our apologies to the residents and businesses of the Town of Haymarket.
The recent actions of one-half of the town council and the mayor have made it quite apparent that their actions are guided not by the public interest but by their own personal agendas.
Fiscal responsibility and prudent governance have been set aside so that legacies might be built and personal scores settled. The last few meetings have been marked by what can be kindly termed as gross misrepresentations of the truth, revisionist history and actions that their successors will have to both answer and pay for.
The truth has been whitewashed and the unethical behavior of a select few not only condoned but rewarded.
It is our sincere hope that concerned residents will attend the June 18 meeting of the town council to voice their opinions regarding this disturbing pattern of behavior.
Milton J. Kenworthy
James E. Tobias
Robert B. Weir
Haymarket Town Council
links to meeting video:
Town of Haymarket: http://www.townofhaymarket.org/
Has something seeped into the drinking water around here? Prince William County and now Haymarket? This County and environs appear to be becoming a “Fringe” event or “X-Files” case.
I find this kind of behavior extremely disturbing.
Do homeowners pay additional tax to haymarket? What is their funding source? I know they have a meals tax.
$30k is no small chunk of change for a small town.
Moon, there is an additional RE Tax in Haymarket property owners pay although that is only around $250K a year. Bulk of Haymarket’s funding is a variety of taxes (meals, cigarettes, sales, utility usage among the bunch) which brings in about $1.5million a year. Next largest source of funding (at the moment) is development fees…think it was around $800k last year. But yeah, $30k hurts the coffers for sure!
Thanks Ray and sorry I left you off the list of people I am asking about Steve.
Isn’t there a new mayor and a bunch of new council-people? It makes you wonder why they were trying to protect the quitting attorney. Sure sounds like cronyism to me.
Need to Know, it sounds like bad drinking water most assuredly.
Welcome, Pendragon x. It all does seem strange. I hope the citizens of Haymarket will let those who wasted their money have it with both barrels!
Welcome Pendragon X,
The sickness that is spreading is called lack of due process. It kinda helps government be more effective ya know!