Sunbury City Solicitor gets $78,000 in past bills

March 13--SUNBURY -- Facing 18 claims to the city's insurance company for grievances, lawsuits and other legal matters, council members approved paying $134,000 in invoices Monday night with $78,660 of it going to Brianna Apfelbaum Kula, the city solicitor.

"I am happy we have the money to pay this and get caught up and go from there," said Councilwoman Beth Kremer, after Monday's City Council meeting. "We need to now get a hold of this."

Council Rick Reichner and Chris Reis agreed.

"It is a necessary evil," Reichner said about paying the bill. "But we are getting caught up and we can address this again."

Reis said he was happy the city had the money at this point to pay the bill.

"We need to get this number down and we will," he said. "We have so many issues going on and we need to get this under control."

Apfelbaum Kula addressed the claims made against the city briefly during the meeting.

She said the city was facing "multiple issues" and have been in executive session more than normal because of the issues.

Apfelbaum Kula told residents she could not discuss the legal issues because they were confidential.

Apfelbaum Kula is on a month-to-month basis with the city after making a deal with council that she would cap her bills at $8,000 per month.

In January and February alone Apfelbaum Kula's bills totaled more than $70,000 before striking the deal to remain the solicitor.

"We are dealing with this month-to-month," Kremer said. "We evaluate at the end of the month."

Reichner and Reis once again agreed with Kremer.

"The only thing I can say is we are seeing how it goes monthly," Reichner said. "We will discuss this again at the end of the month."

Reis said he was happy Apfelbaum Kula agreed to work with council on the pay cut.

"We were on pace to spend more than $300,000 in legal fees," he said. "It obviously could not happen."

City Treasurer Kevin Troup was not at the meeting and Kremer, Reichner and Reis were unsure who the city used as an insurance carrier and whether or not the policy would go up due to the claims.

Troup could not be reached for comment Monday night.

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