SENNETT -- At its reorganizational meeting, what is often just a rubber-stamp -- naming town appointments -- the Sennett Town Board did not just approve the list.

While most of the appointments were unanimous, one board member voted against those of consulting attorney as well as the town's procurement policy.

Jeffrey Herrick, newly elected, objected to the contract between the town and its attorneys, Cheney & Blair LLP.

"I do not like the wording of the contract," Herrick said. "I do not like the fact that the records can be kept at their offices."

Herrick questioned this practice a month earlier in the interest of full disclosure of attorneys' fees. In December, he sent a letter to The Citizen comparing Sennett with a number of nearby towns, with no budgets for legal services exceeding $15,500.

In his letter, he said Sennett's legal expenses for 2008 exceeded $143,000, almost double the budgeted amount of $75,000. Figures included legal expenses for litigation, such as the Bonca's case, when Donald Cheney defended the town's code enforcement officer and when the town sued its own Zoning Board of Appeals, hiring an additional lawyer, John Langey, during the process.

For the full report, read Friday's edition of The Citizen.