Questions to ask the City Council Regarding their $200-an-hour Lawyer

I hope you’ve already read the Ledger article, Lakeland Keeps Lawyer to Fight CSX. If not, I’ll wait.

“The city will keep its $200-per-hour Tallahassee land-use lawyer as it attempts to halt or slow the permitting of a huge CSX freight train terminal in southern Winter Haven.” – Ledger

The lead gets to the spleen of the question, but misses the heart. $200-an-hour is a shock to those of buying off the clearance rack at Target, but we’re left without context.

Who is David A. Theriaque? Certainly a named partner at his firm, but he’s also written books on water resource planning, is an instructor for Planning and Zoning Commission seminars.

OK, on the face he seems cognizant of the subject matter. What about some other questions for the City Council?

• Is $200-an-hour a going price for such attorneys?

• How many hours he has billed?

• What about expenses? Are those covered in Theriaque’s contract?

• What is the projected cost of using Theriaque?

• Has the city given Theriaque a contract with an upper limit?

• What has been the amount paid to Theriaque to date?

• Has the work Theriaque performed been applicable only to the CSX Winter Haven project, or will it cover a fight to stop CSX from moving traffic through Lakeland if the Orlando commuter rail fails to materialize?

I’m sure you could think of more, but that’s a start. Lakeland’s Director of Communications is out at least until Wednesday. He should be able to answer some of those questions when he returns.

photo credit: Chuck Welch