Norman C. Powell North Bay Village Attorney

I'm just here for the money!

At tonight's very special meeting of the commission, the first item discussed was the settlement with Yolanda Menegazzo, who was our Deputy Village Manager for 40 days.  The settlement is for $31,666.66 in exchange for not suing the Village.  

Well, why should she sue the Village, you ask.  Good question!  

For one, when the Village hired her, they were under obligation to confirm the hire with the commission.  It's in our code of Ordinances, Section 3.06 (g). " the Village Manager shall submit appointments of all department heads to the Commission for approval."  In June, when the Village Manager mentioned this, the Village Attorney Norman C. Powell, shook his head "no" and the commission did not take the vote required by law.   This was a big sign that something was wrong and would be held in great suspicion by a court if Ms. Megenazzo chooses to sue.  It was wrong.  

So I suggested that since Mr. Powell was the source of the error, he should be held responsible for paying for the error.  Why not take the $31,666 out of his billings?  

Powell then either straight up lied or is truly ignorant of his obligations as Village Attorney and said he had no idea what I could be talking about.  

Laura Cattabriga, who never misses an opportunity to ask a "concerned" question, asked a concerned question "Does commission confirmation apply to non-chartered positions?"  and Powell smugly said "No."  

But it does.  And I can show it.  I texted the information to the commission pointing out where it specifies such, but Cattabriga who is part of the collusion never mentioned it.

In the end, the commission voted to offer Menegazzo two months' salary and gave her until Friday to accept it.  If she doesn't, we're in court.  Many people would have expected their attorney to discuss the terms with them before presenting them with the offer, but not our pal.   

If this was the first bad advice Powell gave, well, maybe it could pass.  But it's not.  Not even tonight.  

Let's move on to the "final" item of the evening.  A quickly cobbled together Charter Resolution that you will have to vote on that changed the charter provision prohibiting nepotism to the second degree of consanguinity to simply prohibit hiring anyone related without specifying what relationships constitute nepotism.  

Now just to explain how this piece of bullshit wound up on the radar of the commission, Mayor Crazy Eyes was informed by one of her personalities that Laura Menegazzo's mother worked with a step-cousin of Marlen Martell so the hire must have been nepotism.  

Powell then drafted a proposed change that would expand the definition of relationships to "whatever."

  

After I brought up to the five members of the dais how dangerous this is and pointed out that in one sense, we're all related, Norman took a break and came back with a compromise offering prohibitions against the hiring of third degree relationships, which nobody on the dais even bothered to understand although Laura Cattabriga asked a "concerned" question or two and they all obligingly voted for it.  

A real lawyer would have provided them with the information about the implications etc. but Powell, well, you know, he rolls easily.   Not accurately or well, but he doesn't sweat the details.  

The rest of the evening was just as bad.  They were voting on Charter resolutions ranging from the technical to the ridiculous.  I can't even tell you what a waste of time it was.  

I think the moment that best summed up the meeting was when Acting Village Manager Lewis Velken commented, apropos of nothing, that his salary was only $135,000 per year compared to former police chief Carlos Noriega's of $170,000 and Mayor Crazy Eyes cackled "Put that on Facebook" and laughed maniacally.   

Carlos Noriega's salary was $117,000 per year, $18,000 less than Velken's.  

They didn't understand a single damn thing they were voting on.  The staff gave them little information and they asked even less.  

So after wasting our time and money, the Mayor moved to adjourn the meeting and with a great cacophony of Ayes, they disbursed into the night.  I'm pretty sure at least one member of the dais was high and looking for her next hit or a quiet place to crash while another drove off in car suspiciously similar to one used in an extortion crime.  It was that kind of night.  

Kevin Vericker

July 30, 2018