By: Diane Benjamin
A Freedom of Information Request was filed (not by me) for invoices from Sorling Northrup in Springfield. This is the firm Jeff Jurgens works for, the attorney Bloomington uses instead of replacing Todd Greenberg. The request was received including the summary below of charges per month. The cost per month is HUGE. Greenburg was paid a little over $100,000, not including benefits. In 2013 his total compensation was $150,137.
Most of the information is redacted, but some interesting items can be seen. The City wasn’t charged for work done pertaining to my lawsuit. Any guesses as to why? See the 3 invoices below. Staff lawyers were involved , so it’s not like the City didn’t spend money to hide emails. I think I filed the lawsuit in August of last year, so there may have been charges not covered under the FOIA request.
The request was for invoices between 1/1/15 and 4/10/15.
Some identifiable items:
- $5100 – YWCA
- $4000 – Coliseum
- $4250 – Eric’s Minimart
- $1987.50 – Palmer lawsuit against the City
- $2000 – VanHoveln (police officer)
No details are available on any of these items. Click any picture to enlarge.
See all pages received here: 2015 Sorling Redacted Invoices_Redacted
Is it possible that the law the city attorney practices is different than what the Spfld firm practices? i.e. Real estate, tax, etc….
Jurgens wrote a book on Home Rule, so he knows a lot about municipal law. City attorneys need a broad base of knowledge because cities are involved in many areas of the law.
Hmm I wonder what’s up the YWCA. Palmer the name sounds familiar as a developer from Chicago. I’ve seen the last name in the platt book as a land owner in various locations in McLean County.
A lot of money leaving the city. I guess I would ask what has been the return rate on what they have gotten back in winning cases.