Marblehead board names counsel

MARBLEHEAD – The selectmen have named former Selectman Jeffrey Shribman as town counsel.The post carries a stipend of $2,000. If he accepts the post, Shribman will assist Town Administrator Tony Sasso in assigning legal duties to the town’s seven assistant town counsels, until next May.The vote to name Shribman, a former 10-year Board of Appeals member who stepped down as selectman last year and was named an assistant town counsel two months later, was unanimous.The assistants include Attorney Lisa Mead, who oversees zoning issues, Attorney Marc Miller, who presides at board hearings, Attorney Patrick Costello, who works with the School Department, and Attorneys Leonard Kesten, Francis Mayo, Earl Weissman and the firm of Brody, Hardoon, Perkins and Kesten.Former Town Counsel Paul Lausier, who died in February 2007, served for 48 years and handled all the town’s legal needs for $2,000 a year, but selectmen agreed that their present system of specialists served the town’s present-day needs better.Selectman Judy Jacobi, who brought the matter up at the conclusion of Wednesday’s meeting, said the board left the town counsel position vacant for 17 months because board members didn’t think it was appropriate to replace him quickly – but she felt that the time had come to name an official town counsel.She made a motion to name a successor from the assistant town counsel list Wednesday night.Some board members felt reluctant to take swift action on the matter. Selectman William Woodfin asked whether a formal replacement process should be used, with board members soliciting applicants. Selectman Harry Christensen made a motion to table the matter until a future meeting.However, the motion to table failed. Woodfin and Christensen voted in favor and Jacobi, Selectman James Nye and Selectmen Chairman Jackie Belf-Becker voted against it. The motion to make an appointment Wednesday carried, also 3-2.