ROCKLAND, Maine — The lawyer who represents Rockland city attorney Kevin Beal said Tuesday that his client is not under investigation.
Attorney Daniel Nuzzi of Portland said he spoke with Linda McGill, the outside attorney hired by the city to address a personnel matter, and she informed him that Beal is not under investigation.
Nuzzi said he does not know why the city hired an outside attorney at $300 per hour to represent the community in a personnel matter rather than using Beal, the staff attorney.
City Manager James Chaousis said in early January he was conducting an investigation into multiple city employees and had gone through their computers as part of that probe. Chaousis declined to identify or specify what he was looking into, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters.
While no one has publicly identified the city employees whose computers were examined by the manager, multiple sources said one of them was Beal’s city-supplied computer.
And in a Dec. 23, 2015, memo sent to the city attorney and council, Chaousis wrote, “Often, there is a disconnect between communications coming from the City Council, city manager and the city attorney. This also appears to be a repeated pattern of behavior from the legal department in which the City Council has offered guidance. It does not appear that this guidance has had an effect.”
The council voted on Jan. 20 to hire McGill of Portland at a rate of $300 per hour to deal with the unspecified personnel issue. The council has scheduled another closed-door session with McGill for 6 p.m. Feb. 11.
Beal has declined to comment on the issue.
But Nuzzi said Tuesday that Beal was not under investigation and that he “has been the Rockland city attorney since 2007. He is a well-respected, highly skilled attorney who has served the city well through a number of changes in administration.”
McGill responded Tuesday to the Bangor Daily News about Nuzzi’s statement.
“Kevin Beal is not at this time under investigation by the City Council or city manager,” McGill said.
Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment late Tuesday afternoon about why the city was hiring a private attorney when it has a staff attorney.