Talking Poynts: A Moraga Man Asks His Council About Taxpayer Monies

Roger Poynts has something of a reputation for being a "straight shooter" around town -- a person who says what he means and means what he says.

Recently, at the end of a long Town Council meeting, Poynts calmly asked the council and Town staff about the bill taxpayers were handed after the Town's unsuccessful legal battle against a resident who sued over noise from the town-sponsored Summer Concert series in Moraga Commons.

He got his answer, or most of it, in a response from Town Manager Jill Keimach sent to Roger and Lamorinda Patch, among others, on Tuesday. In it, Keimach said the initial lawsuit filed by Moragan Joyceanne Beachem in 2005 cost the town $120,878 to fight -- after 2009 -- as the representing firm of McDonough, Holland, & Allen did not bill separately in the matter, or Town staff did not record invoices by project or 'matter,' prior to that time, according to Jill.

"The Town was also charged an additional $24,526 for legal work on an appeal -- though MHA (McDonough, Holland, & Allen) did credit $10,000 of that back to the town because legal costs ran beyond an earlier estimate," Keimach wrote. MHA stopped representing the Town in August, 2010.

Beachem's case, which threatened the future of the well-attended Summer Concert Series held during summer months at the Moraga Bandshell, was filed when she alleged that noise levels from the events interfered with her family's use and enjoyment of their residence.

"According to plaintiff (Beachem), she voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit after the Town of Moraga assured her it would implement sound mitigation measures to limit the adverse effects of amplified music on plaintiff and her neighbors," a First District Court appellate panel wrote in May, 2011.

Instead, Beachem alleged, the town embarked on a plan to protect itself from future lawsuits, using its own expert to gauge sound levels on and near her property and going so far as to draft language declaring town sponsored events exempt from the town's own noise ordinance.

The new language, adopted over the protest of some residents, was recently rescinded by the Town after the appellate court found that in doing so the Town created "a reasonable potential of causing residents in the area to be exposed to noise levels sufficiently high to interfere with their normal and outdoor activities."

Although the billing figures released Tuesday were a "good start," Poynts said the $135,000 seemed to be all outside legal cost -- with no breakdown of staff costs and expenses incurred by Town staff related to the Beachem suit. In addition, Poynts and others watching the issue wondered if actual costs included any of those billed to the Moraga Parks Foundation -- organizer of the Summer Concert Series.

Poynts, at least, is one Moragan anxious to find out what the Town's "final bill" was for dealing with the Beachem case.