Bloomingdale hires new attorneys
Bloomingdale Mayor Franco Coladipietro is continuing to make changes to the roster of outside law firms employed by the municipality.
Less than a month after getting a new village attorney, trustees on Monday night approved Coladipietro's recommendation to hire two new lawyers to handle DUI cases and collective bargaining matters.
Salvatore J. “Sam” Tornatore has been appointed by Coladipietro to become Bloomingdale's village prosecutor. He replaces Tom Howard, who had been prosecuting the village's DUI and traffic cases.
Coladipietro called Howard “a great guy and a great attorney.” Still, the mayor said, he wanted to make the change.
“I just wanted to put someone in that position who I had personal knowledge of their legal expertise,” Coladipietro said. “Sam is probably one of the best legal minds that I've ever worked with.”
Tornatore, a former Bloomingdale Township trustee who now serves on the DuPage County Board, will be paid $120 per hour — the same rate as the previous village prosecutor.
Trustees also agreed to employ Michael K. Durkin — an attorney with the Rosemont-based law firm of Storino, Ramello & Durkin — as special village legal counsel for collective bargaining and human resources.
Bloomingdale had been paying the law firm of Clark Baird Smith up to $315 an hour to do that type of legal work. Durkin will receive $195 an hour.
Despite his cheaper hourly rate, Durkin will provide the village with “the highest caliber” of legal representation, according to Coladipietro.
“It's a win-win type of a situation,” he said. “We cut costs, but we don't sacrifice service at the same time.”
On May 28, Coladipietro appointed Michael Castaldo Jr. to the office of village attorney. Castaldo replaced attorney Ronald Cope, who had represented the village since the 1980s.
In addition to knowing him for years, Coladipietro said he was impressed by the fact that Castaldo is a Bloomingdale resident.
“He's making decisions that are affecting people in the community,” Coladipietro said. “And he's here in the community. It's a nice dynamic because there's issues that come up that are tough issues.”