Island Lake village attorney says he's paid too much

It's not often an attorney urges you to spend less money on legal fees.

But the village of Island Lake found itself receiving just that advice at its board meeting Thursday night.

"I've never said it to anybody else," said village attorney Scott Puma of legal firm Ancel Glink. "It's kind of unusual."

At the meeting, board members heard they're spending too much money to have questions answered that probably don't require legal advice.

Mayor Tom Hyde said the board had racked up $64,000 in legal fees since last July, a number he said did not include legal work on developments.

"Things go to the attorney that don't need to go to the attorney," Hyde said, noting the monthly average was about $9,000. "We need to put some controls over our legal spending."

Ultimately, the board approved forcing trustees to get board approval for legal requests that would take more than a half-hour to answer.

The legal requests being made by board members run the gamut of topics, Puma said.

Recently, a trustee directed the village clerk to ask Puma whether the board could fine Hyde. That question eventually fell by the wayside.

"We need to bring those (legal) bills down," Trustee Rich Garling said. "We need to limit the dollar amount (of) what can be spent."

Some trustees said at first they felt the limits were too strict and others didn't like an initial proposal to have the mayor approve the legal requests.

"Why have it go through the mayor?" Garling said.

Trustees agreed Hyde would bring requests to the board to examine before the expense would be approved.

The mayor said the new half-hour regulation will be flexible but will at least allow the board to identify where it's spending its money.

"There are legal bills you have to have," Hyde said. "What we're trying to do is get rid of the stuff that really isn't needed."