Pace University last month shuttered its municipal law assistance program, the victim of finances.
The closure leaves county municipalities, among others, with one less go-to source for inexpensive legal counsel.
The Pace dean of the college of arts and sciences said the service and the center that ran it covered only a quarter of their own costs and were unsustainable.
The center handled some 300 requests for legal advice per year from regional governments on issues such as land use, zoning, planning and operations. Said town of Pelham Supervisor Joe Solimine Sr., “Everything was fair game as far as local government was concerned. As a resource, it has been terrific.”
But, according to Dean Nira Herrmann of the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences at Pace, “Over the past few years, the revenues for the Edwin G. Michaelian Institute for Public Policy and Management and the Edwin G. Michaelian Municipal Law Resource Center (MLRC) have been less than a quarter of the costs incurred by the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences at Pace University for running them. This resulted in the difficult and highly considered decision to close the MLRC and significantly reduce the Michaelian Institute. In the current financial climate, particularly among municipal governments, not-for-profits and hospitals, all of whom were our primary clients, it was unlikely that we would be able to generate the funding necessary to continue operating the MLRC and the Michaelian Institute as they were organized.” Herrmann responded via email to requests for comment from the Business Journal.
Attorney Lester D. Steinman, who served as director of MLRC at Pace since 1984, said the closure would mean “a tremendous loss for local governments.”
A typical municipal problem, as put forth by Solimine, might involve merging services. “We need to know what”™s the best way and the advice is a phone call away,” he said. “Our annual dues for the service are $800 and it was well worth that amount. If it were two times that amount it would still be cheap.”
Solimine said Pelham would support the re-establishment of the center even if it meant paying more. He suggested a sliding scale where larger towns pay more. “I don”™t think it would be very onerous,” he said. “It certainly would be worth it.”
Steinman said that lacking an attorney-client relationship, the center”™s work on a given topic for one municipality translated to other municipalities. “This idea of a shared-services model is very unique,” he said. “The research for one municipality is available to all ”“ that”™s the beauty of no attorney-client privilege.”
With 3,000 residents, a part-time attorney and a $3 million budget, Pelham could easily be swamped by legal issues. “This was a classic example of getting together to solve problems ”“ the direction we want to go,” said Solimine.
The MLRC is “irreplaceable,” according to Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick, who serves on the Westchester Municipal Officials Association”™s executive committee. He told Pace President Stephen Friedman in a March 9 letter that all 46 local-member governments had benefitted from the MLRC:
“It is most unfortunate that at a time when all governments are looking for ways to reduce expenses and share services, this model of shared legal services is being eliminated,” Lesnick said. “On behalf of the executive committee of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association, I respectfully request that Pace University reconsider its decision to close the Municipal Law Resource Center.”
Lesnick also said the center “provides sample legislation so that ”˜reinventing the wheel”™ is avoided.” Beyond zoning, planning, labor and home rule issues, he noted, “It also covers cutting edge issues such as climate change initiatives, affordable housing, senior housing and cell towers.”
Herrmann, however, must address other issues, as well, and said, “With the exception of 2007, there had been a steady and inexorable decline in revenues while expenses and salaries had stayed steady or increased. The significant growth in the educational programs of Dyson College requires us to reallocate financial resources to academic programs, which also negatively impacted our ability to sustain these two programs as they were organized.”
Though the center has been closed, Herrmann said its resources live on. “The Pace Law School Library maintains contents equivalent to the MLRC Library, and the Pace Law School may still offer internships in the municipal law field, as student interest warrants.”
Steinman, an attorney with White Plains- and New York City-based Wormser, Kiely, Galef & Jacobs L.L.P. and who as the MLCR legal principal worked only with a part-time staff, lamented: “We trained a substantial number of law students who have gone on to outstanding legal careers ”“ it”™s one of the most powerful things we”™ve done. I am grateful for the opportunity and I”™m sorry it had to end in this way.”
