Windham legal services to be handled by Jensen Baird law firm

By Ed Pierce

In keeping with the town practice of reviewing service contracts every five to seven years, Windham has wrapped up an in-depth process of interviewing bidders for the town’s legal services and awarded a new contract to the Jensen Baird law firm of Portland at the Jan. 24 Windham Town Council meeting.

The Windham Town Council votes on awarding a legal
services contract to the Jensen Baird law firm of Portland
during a meeting at the Windham Town Hall on Jan. 24.
COURTESY PHOTO 

Windham requested bids for legal services in October and four candidates submitted proposals by the Dec. 14 deadline.

A legal review committee that included Town Council Chair Mark Morrison; Town Council Vice Chair David Nadeau; Councilor Nicholas Kalogerakis; Town Manager Barry Tibbetts; Assistant Town Manager Robert Burns; Director of Planning Amanda Lessard; Code Enforcement Director Jon Rioux; Finance Director Susan Rossignol; and Police Chief Kevin Schofield reviewed the bid submissions and conducted interviews on Jan. 11.

The committee submitted specific questions to bidding firms in advance of the interviews that focused on the town’s short-term and long-term goals. Question topics spanned a wide representation of issues including matters of legislation, code enforcement, zoning, planning, land use, real estate, labor and employment, finance, bonding, taxation, economic development, law enforcement, civil rights, and other local, state, and federal law and regulatory issues.

All four of the applicants committee members interviewed are in good standing with the Maine Bar Association and licensed to practice in Maine.

The interview session lasted more than five hours and following a discussion, committee members reached a consensus and unanimously recommended that the Windham Town Council engage the legal services of Jensen Baird and to have the town manager develop a transition plan for the legal services.

The committee recommended a five-year contract with Jensen Baird which comes with renewal options and yearly legal service reviews based upon performance, said Barry Tibbetts, Windham Town Manager.

He said that the submitted hourly legal services expense would be $225 per hour which was also tied for the lowest cost among bidders.

The Jensen Baird firm was founded in 1952 and has extensive expertise in business and real estate law. It has represented local governments in facility planning, permitting, infrastructure improvements, licensing, and financing.

Over the years, the firm has partnered with the City of Westbrook on the Rock Row and Vertical Harvest projects and with the developer of The Downs project in Scarborough.

Windham’s existing contract has been handled by the law firm of Preti Flaherty and Beliveau with Kristen Collins serving as town attorney.

Collins has been instrumental in helping councilors set up licensing fees and regulatory oversight of marijuana shops in Windham and drafting associated ordinances.

“The committee and the town have very much appreciated all the participants and the services that have been rendered by Preti Flaherty over the past several years,” Tibbetts said. “We felt this new firm would help us take the next step forward as a town.”

The council voted 7-0 to award the legal services contract to Jensen Baird.

Councilors thanked Preti Flaherty for their efforts on behalf of the town during the discussion and said they hoped the transition in legal representation would be smooth.

“I’m optimistic and think it’s going to be a good transition,” Tibbetts said. <