Attorney Thomas J. Ryan will represent the Village of Oxford in its quest to become a city.
Council Dec. 23 voted 4-0 to retain the Sylvan Lake attorney as “special counsel for the purpose of providing professional legal services in an effort to incorporate as a city the Village of Oxford.”
Under the terms of the agreement between the village and Ryan, the attorney will be paid “an hourly rate of $165 per chargeable hour and statements will be sent on a monthly basis of all charges.”
The village also agreed to “reimburse” Ryan for “all court costs, transcipt fees, depositions, long distance telephone charges and other expenses. . .in connection with the Village of Oxford’s matter.”
However, the agreement also clearly states that the village “agrees” Ryan “has made no promises or guarantees regarding the outcome of the Village of Oxford’s matter.”
Tracy Miller, founder and chairman of the cityhood committee and husband of Councilwoman Renee Donovan, requested council hire Ryan at the Dec. 9 meeting.
Miller told council Ryan has the professional expertise needed, and which his committee lacks, to effectively handle the cityhood process and accomplish it successfully.
“I think it’s very important that cityhood be taken forward by professional people that know how to handle it, that have the expertise to handle it, and can be successful in this endeavor,” Miller said. He described Ryan as the “best suited” for the task.
Ryan served as counsel to the City of the Village of Clarkston during its incorporation as a city and continues to serve as the city attorney.
He currently serves as the attorney for the Village of Beverly Hills, City of Keego Harbor, and City of Orchard Lake Village, and prosecuting attorney for Bloomfield Township and Southfield Township.
Ryan previously served as acting attorney for Pontiac Township, attorney for Southfield Township, special prosecutor for Waterford Township and special counsel for Independence Township.
Miller described cityhood as a “very important” and “very urgent matter.”
“The citizens of my committee are serious about what they want,” Miller said. “They’ve listened to the citizens of this community (from the village and township) at biweekly meetings for the last eight months.”
Miller said what his committee and the citizens they’ve listened to want is cityhood for the Village of Oxford and any “adjacent property owners (in the township) that request to be a part of that venture.”
Councilman Dave Bailey inquired as to the nature of the relationship between Miller’s cityhood committee and the village.
“It’s an official committee of the village” that became such when council “gave Tracy our blessing to continue on” at the June 10 meeting, according to village President Steve Allen. “We endorsed his activity thus making it a semi-official committee.”
Bailey also asked, “How will the issue of attorney/client privilege be handled with regard (to Ryan’s written communications)?”
Allen said attorney/client privilege will need to be extended to include the cityhood committee, “but not extended to the world.”
Miller said “all communications would be between council, him (Ryan) and the committee for cityhood.”