Board rehires Schwartz in 4-3 vote despite Strickland’s characterization of billable hour totals as ‘asinine’

Less than 30 minutes after Wayne County Board of Education attorney Richard Schwartz said his firm has worked “very hard” over the last three years to “try to keep (the school district’s) fees down,” board member Jennifer Strickland said her husband, a local attorney, “laughed hysterically” at the number of hours Schwartz’s firm has billed the board for during his tenure.

But the blame for the hours — and the fees — she said, is not necessarily Schwartz’s to shoulder.

“Am I comfortable if the board votes for (Schwartz) that we’re not going to be unrepresented? Yes. But I am not comfortable with the potential cost until we can guarantee that we can get Central Office back to doing work,” Strickland said. “There is absolutely no reason we should have 264 hours a month being billed. It’s asinine to me.”

Members of the board attended a special-called meeting Thursday to hear presentations from four firms who were vying to provide legal representation to the district.

And while two firms estimated that $10,000 per month would likely represent the high-end of potential charges, some board members — mainly board chairman Chris West — said they were skeptical, given the way the board operates, that they could follow through for so little money.

“Something else that one of the other firms said was that they were billing roughly, the higher ends, was $100,000 for the year. And here we are with a couple of different proposals here where you’re talking about funding at levels that are really drastic. And when you’re talking double and triple (that amount) that’s what concerns me,” board member Craig Foucht said. “I liked the fact that … one of the firms said, ‘Our typical billing is this,’ and they’re somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 for the year. At least two firms said that’s what their billing is.”

West responded.

“I just don’t see how across North Carolina, that there is quote, a typical. There are very few districts that are exactly the same in size, staff, students,” he said. “And there’s very few cases in the state of North Carolina or any state in the United States where things are typical from district to district.”

Strickland noted that “pre-Schwartz & Shaw,” then-board attorney Jack Edwards’ “most expensive year” cost the district less than $100,000.

“I think we hit $90,000,” she said, adding that the figure included two cases that required litigation.

And she again criticized the number of billable hours reported by Schwartz’s firm.

“Yes. I am married to an attorney. And when you ask someone that you trust and love, ‘What numbers are you putting in?’ and they laugh hysterically (at Schwartz’s hours),” Strickland said. “We shouldn’t be doing more than 25 hours a month, and the fact that we are is the problem.”

West said believing that an attorney could do its job effectively in so few hours per month was “not realistic.”

Strickland, though, said many of the hours being utilized by Schwartz were unnecessary.

“There’s a lot of times where Richard is showing up and we’re not even needing legal advice in that case,” she said. “Why is he coming? We’re paying for travel and his presence.”

Board member Wade Leatham said that is why the board needs to “tighten up the ship” and mandate that Superintendent Dr. David Lewis not allow — when possible — Schwartz to work more hours than the 200 per month covered under his proposed $30,000 a month retainer.

West agreed.

“I think that’s where the responsibility of the board comes in,” he said. “It’s up to us to tell our superintendent … our hours don’t need to exceed 200 unless we have a litigation incident that comes up. That’s our responsibility.”

Foucht did not seem convinced that the $360,000 minimum Schwartz was asking for would be the final price tag.

“If we were to look at this, Mr. Schwartz’s proposal at $30,000 a month, that covers 200 hours. That comes to $360,000. That is less than what we have paid for the past three years based off the information that I have,” he said. “At the same time though, the amount that we’ve used an attorney has been above that threshold of 200 hours a month, which would then indicate to me that if we continue similar practices of what we have done, we would end up paying more than the $360,000 for the year.”

Like Strickland, he, too, said he believes Central Office staff are too comfortable leaning on Schwartz’s expertise, resulting in higher-than-necessary hour totals.

In the past three years alone — Schwartz began working for the district in October 2017 — the district has paid him north of $1.2 million.

But the attorney, during his presentation, said his firm has worked hard to “increase efficiencies” and reduce hours and fees.

“We try to increase efficiencies and we’ve done a good job of that over the last couple years,” he said, adding that in fiscal year 2019-20, he was paid $485,932 for 3,415 hours of work, in 2020-21, he was paid $412,000 for 3,175 hours, and in the first 10 months of 2021-22, he has earned $321,000.

“Those are real numbers,” Schwartz said. “That’s significant, I think.”

The attorney’s bills were first made public via a New Old North public records request in 2020 amid the district’s financial crisis.

And Strickland also pointed out the math — that if you break down the average weekly billable hours, they are “more than 40 hours a week,” and said she still believes the district could be served well and save money by hiring a staff attorney.

The 3,415 billable hours for FY 2019-20, for example, when divided by 52 weeks, comes out to more than 65 hours a week of work. In FY 20-21, Schwartz’s firm averaged more than 61 hours a week.

According to records provided to the New Old North by the Wayne County government, it pays its three-person legal team — staff positions that include salaries and benefits for Borden Parker of Baddour, Parker, Hine & Hale, a staff attorney and a paralegal — between $250,000 and $300,000 per year.

In the end, the board voted 4-3 to rehire Schwartz, with Strickland, Foucht and Len Henderson voting against the measure.

He will receive a minimum of $30,000 per month for his services, or $360,000 for fiscal year 2022-23. Should the district exceed 200 hours of services in a given month, an hourly bill would be added to the $30,000 retainer.

To watch the meeting, click here.