“I’M CHEAP TO KEEP.”
With costs mounting toward $3 million in the city’s attempted hostile takeover of Pennichuck, it seems a bit preposterous for the city’s lead consultant to tell the Aldermen at a recent meeting, “I’m cheap to keep.”
- More than $1.2 million has already been spent or committed by the city for the eminent domain battle.
- Now the city’s consultants say their additional costs in 2006 will be nearly $900,000.
- Add to that another $800,000 “break up fee” which the city is reported to have to pay to a new consultant if it wants to settle with Pennichuck or withdraw from the litigation.
We’re talking $3 million of your money, with no certainty that the city will ever be successful in this battle.
Not surprisingly, when Pennichuck offered a 60 day “time out” to search for a negotiated resolution, the City’s consultants were quick to urge the Aldermen to move forward with their filing of testimony with the PUC, saying that there will be plenty of time to negotiate after January 12th.
- “We go into a quiet phase after the 12th <of January>...”, said city consultant, Skip Sansoucy on December 27, 2005.
- Less than a month later, Robert Upton, the attorney representing the city, characterized the eminent domain battle as a “dogfight” and said, “So it looks like it’s going to be a pretty intense year. In fact, most of the trial preparation actually will occur in 2006. I suspect that 2006 is going to be a high water mark for legal fees.” An amount that’s estimated at $600,000.
- It’s also going to be close to an additional $300,000 for consultant Sansoucy’s fees in 2006, bringing his total alone to the million-dollar range. But remember, as he put it, he’s “cheap to keep.”
Perhaps it was at a special Board of Aldermen meeting on January 26th that Attorney Upton said it best when talking about costs relative to last year’s attorney fees and the estimate of more than half a million dollars this year.
“If you asked me when I started practicing law in 1968 if I could ever charge one client $330,000 in a year, I’d have fallen over and died. What I’m about to say for the next 12 months may cause me to fall over and die, too.”
Cheap to keep? We think not. It’s up to you – you’re paying the bill.
Pennichuck Corporation
New Hampshire’s Oldest Continuously Operating Business
February 12, 2006
