By: Bethany J.Hashway
East Greenwich, RI- Today residents received a message in their inbox from Sue Cienki
Council President for East Greenwich. If you didn’t receive it here is a copy of it.
Dear Resident,
On Monday, Superior Court Judge McGuirl issued a decision to award nearly $42,000 in legal fees to the East Greenwich Firefighters’ Union for litigation involving the Town Council’s Open Meetings Act violations. We are deeply disappointed with this decision. The Union’s attorney, Liz Weins, initially claimed that her services for just the OMA portion of the lawsuit were worth $55,000. We believed that number was drastically inflated, and argued that the time Ms. Weins spent on the OMA portion of the suit was far less than she claimed. The Town and Ms. Weins were unable to reach an agreement on appropriate fees and Judge McGuirl ultimately set the fee at $41,905. This demands further Council discussion and we intend to explore our options, including appeal, on Monday evening in executive session.
Sincerely,
Sue Cienki
Council President
EGWarwick News 
Any town official who refuses to negotiate for lower fees should be paying out of pocket. Mr D’Agostino and Ms Cienki should release the court transcript when it becomes available if they’re telling the truth.
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