Mar 4, 2021 4 min read

The Washington County commissioners are expected to increase the pay of their contracted solicitor by nearly 33% this year, but the way the process was handled has illustrated a rift within the board.

The commissioners plan to vote at their 10 a.m. meeting today to increase the pay for the services of solicitor Jana Grimm, who is contracted through the Steptoe & Johnson law firm in Pittsburgh, from $142,577 last year to $189,000.

Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan said the increase in pay is due to expansion of duties and the creation of a legal division with Grimm and other lawyers at Steptoe & Johnson supervising county CYS attorneys and overseeing specialized litigation.

County Chief of Staff John Haynes added that the cost is still lower than it would be to hire an in-house lawyer, and is competitive with neighboring Beaver and Fayette counties, which have their own law departments.

“If you look at all the other counties, they have a law department. We just have one single solicitor,” Haynes said, adding the money is paid as part of the overall contract with Steptoe & Johnson.

But Commissioner Larry Maggi raised concerns during Wednesday’s workshop meeting about the increased cost and how the decision was reached. Contacted by telephone after the virtual meeting, Maggi said he was unaware the topic would be discussed Wednesday until five minutes before the meeting began when he was handed a paper that indicated it would be on the agenda.

“I just would’ve liked to have been involved in the discussion, the rationale, the reasoning,” said Maggi, who indicated he would vote against the item during today’s regular meeting.

Maggi said he preferred a 3% increase that falls in line with typical annual pay increases.

“We had a solicitor who did the same duties … and took on extra roles without additional compensation,” Maggi said of previous solicitor Lynn DeHaven, who left at the end of 2019. “I just have problems with the spending. During this pandemic, we’re spending a lot of money.”

Irey Vaughan defended the decision because of the expansion of work that will fall to Grimm, along with the additional resources available at her law firm. She also took exception with Maggi’s assertion that he was left out of the process, noting it’s been a topic of discussion at previous meetings, including last month.

“He’s not being left out of the process,” Irey Vaughn said. “He’s being given the same opportunities to participate. That’s not accurate.”

Maggi claimed he was also excluded from detailed discussions last year involving the purchase of the Crossroads Building and the reallocation of funds away from the Greater Washington County Food Bank. He voted against both – he thinks he wasn’t consulted on those issues because he opposed them – and said it was the lack of being a part of the “sausage-making” process that bothered him.

“I’m never called and asked, ‘What do you think?’ A lot of this stuff is (already) hammered out,” he said.

The changes come as Maggi, a Democrat who was the board chairman for years, is now in the minority after Irey Vaughan and fellow Republican Commissioner Nick Sherman won control of the board in November 2019. Maggi said when he led the board and Irey Vaughan was in the Republican minority, he tried to have a “joint effort” to find a solution that was acceptable to all three commissioners, even if they disagreed.

“I understand the politics of it. I understand majority and minority,” Maggi said. “I don’t want to sound like I’m crying. But it’d not be so far out of reach for a discussion and here’s why we’re doing it.”

Irey Vaughan is adamant that Maggi is involved in the process, being included in email chains to discuss issues with other commissioners and department heads. She thinks Maggi is more accustomed to “face-to-face interactions” that have been less frequent during the coronavirus pandemic.

“He wasn’t missing anything. He’s not being left out of anything,” she said. “The communication is happening with him and just as much with Nick (Sherman).”

She produced emails showing Maggi engaging in discussions in which he disagreed with the proposed size of the pay increase for the solicitor’s services.

But Maggi said it’s more about not being included in the final details or being informed what will be on the agenda until just before the meeting.

“I’ll usually find out the day before (a meeting),” Maggi said of the agenda items. “The decisions and product have already been made and then I’m told about it. Most times I agree, but I wish I would’ve been involved.”