Roosevelt hires new legal counsel for 2007 An attorney will now be present at all town meetings BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer ROOSEVELT - The new year has brought a new borough attorney to town. While in the past the borough attorney only attended meetings when certain issues were on the agenda, the new attorney will attend all council meetings, as is customary in other municipalities. Mayor Elsbeth "Beth" Battel said, "It was felt that the attorney should be present at the meetings to advise the mayor and council on legalities of decisions as they are being formulated and to ensure proper legal procedures are followed, as is the norm in other municipalities." She said that having an attorney present at meetings could ultimately prevent legal fees that could occur in the case of inadvertent mistakes made by the governing body because an attorney was not there to guide its decisions. During its Jan. 2 reorganization meeting, the Borough Council unanimously chose to appoint Richard Shaklee, of the firm McLaughlin, Gelson, D'Apolito & Stauffer LLC in Wall Township, to the position of borough attorney. Shaklee replaces longtime Borough Attorney Ira Karasick, who is a resident of Roosevelt. When asked why he thought he was not reappointed, Karasick replied he couldn't say because no one had ever discussed it with him. "It is not unusual for municipal attorneys to be replaced when changes in the governing body occur, as happened in Roosevelt, so that the leaders have someone that they are more comfortable with," he said. In November, council members complained that Karasick had not acted on the Planning Board's September 2006 decision to overturn former Zoning Officer Bob Francis' decision that Yeshiva Me'on Hatorah was not operating out of the Homestead Lane synagogue in violation of borough ordinances. In October 2005, Francis reported to the council that he did not find the controversial yeshiva in violation of any borough ordinances. When Francis inspected the school, it had 12 students, he said, and there was no residential use of the synagogue or the parsonage house on the property. As for the "accusation" that he did not act on the Planning Board's reversal of Francis' decision, Karasick said he saw this for the first time in the newspaper and that no council member had ever said it to him. He said that during his tenure, the Planning Board's decision was never memorialized in a resolution and in his view would not have appropriately been the basis for any legal action until the Planning Board formally acted. Battel said the governing body chose the new firm based on recommendation, interview and review of credentials. "The mayor, with advice and consent of the council," Battel said, "chose to change the borough attorney because it was felt that someone who was geographically closer and also a practice with multiple attorneys was more desirable to help ensure attorney availability when needed." Shaklee's colleague, Roger McLaughlin, may attend meetings when Shaklee is unavailable. McLaughlin said he and Shaklee look forward to representing the borough council and the residents of Roosevelt. Councilman Jeff Ellentuck said he is "thrilled to have new and experienced counsel." The agreement with the law firm provides for an annual retainer of $12,000 to cover meetings and for general legal advice provided in telephone conversations between firm members and borough officials and employees on a daily basis, according to Battel. "This amount will be reviewed with the mayor and council after 90 days and after 180 days to ensure [that] the amount fairly reflects the amount of legal services provided," Battel said. "It is not possible at this point to apportion how much of this amount will be attributable to meeting only." McLaughlin said his firm also represents Wall Township and the borough of Interlaken and is bond counsel for Howell, Jamesburg and Hightstown, as well as special counsel for Freehold and Spring Lake Heights.