School Board Appoints New Solicitor

At its June 28 meeting, and with little discussion, the Saucon Valley School Board approved a motion to replace the board's longtime solicitor with a different law firm.

The motion to replace Ellis H. Katz, of Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams, LLP, with Mark W. Fitzgerald, of Fox Rothschild, LLP, was made by board member Michael Karabin under the Personnel portion of the board's agenda.

The motion was approved 7-1, with board member Sandra Miller voting against it. Board member Lanita Lum was absent.

Before the vote, Miller said she would be voting no because she did not agree "with the activity of changing our solicitor."

Katz was not present at the meeting.

Fitzgerald's appointment was scheduled to take effect July 1, which was the start of the new fiscal year for the school district.

According to a biography of Fitzgerald posted on the Fox Rothschild website, he "concentrates his practice in personnel issues and labor relations for municipal, school, and private entities. His practice includes defending clients before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, and in state and federal court."

In addition to this experience, Fitzgerald has served as solicitor to several school districts in central and western Pennsylvania, the biography states.

Katz's biography, posted on his law firm's website, indicates that "he concentrates his practice in representing school districts and municipalities in employment and labor matters."

At the conclusion of the meeting, it was revealed that Katz's hourly rate paid by the district was $140 per hour, and that Fitzgerald's hourly rate will be $185 per hour.

Additionally, "Katz did not have a retainer," board member Susan Baxter noted.

His bill for the last year was about $18,000, she said, before adding that the yearly retainer for Fox Rothschild will be about $21,000, "so the difference is about $3,000."

In other related business, the board approved a motion to appoint Jeffrey Sultanik of Fox Rothschild as District Negotiator, effective July 1.

The motion to appoint Sultanik--who is a partner with the Blue Bell firm--to the position was approved 6-2, with Miller and board member Sharon Stack voting against it.

Sultanik is past president of the Pennsylvania School Board Solicitors Association and "negotiated one of the nation's most sophisticated performance-based teachers' contracts for the Colonial School District in suburban Philadelphia," according to his biography.