When I first read this on FranklinNOW, I was surprised:
“The Franklin Common Council voted Monday night to hire a special prosecutor to investigate the Buckhorn Tavern, 9461 S. 27th St.
The panel unanimously agreed to retain Roger C. Pyzyk, a private practice attorney who also is the Greenfield city attorney, to see if Franklin officials can take action, including lifting its liquor license, against the tavern.”
My first thought was, don’t we have our own City Attorney to make these kinds of decisions?
We do.
But the Franklin City Attorney is also the legal counsel to the members of the Franklin Common Council who, in this case, are the judges. So there’s an obvious conflict of interest.
The resolution adopted by the Franklin Common Council calls for spending up to $5000 on the special prosecutor. The appropriation will come out of the City Attorney’s budget.
The Common Council will decide its next move after it reviews the special prosecutor’s findings.
I understand a certain process must take place. But the Mayor and Aldermen should, and probably do understand that the public wants to see some action take place. I suspect residents aren’t real patient, and I don’t blame them.
In the meantime, I just happened to see this in the office mail today. Most of you probably could care less but I think you Common Council members might find some interest in this.
