Archive
Subscribe Place Ad Buy Trib Photos Readers' Choice Contests
Jobs Homes Autos Classifieds
Trib Total Media Contact Us
ShareThis Page
Monroeville Council approves hiring of new municipal solicitor | TribLIVE.com
Allegheny

Monroeville Council approves hiring of new municipal solicitor

Emily Balser
Emily Balser | Tuesday, February 9, 2016 9:00 p.m

Monroeville’s longtime solicitor, Bruce Dice & Associates, has resigned and was replaced Tuesday by Monroeville Council with the Law Office of Robert J. Wratcher.

Dice did not offer a specific reason for stepping down, Monroeville Manager Tim Little said. Dice had served as the municipality’s solicitor for nearly 20 years.

Dice was not at Tuesday’s meeting and did not immediately return calls for comment.

Council voted 4-3 for both Dice’s resignation and Wratcher’s hiring. Councilmen Steve Duncan, Jim Johns and Tom Wilson voted against each measure.

Wilson said he had not seen the letter of resignation.

Duncan said he had seen no documents related to the resignation and hiring, such as how much the municipality would pay Wratcher.

“I’ve seen nothing,” Duncan said.

When asked by a reporter, Little was unable to provide Wrachter’s salary. He said Wratcher will not be under a contract; neither was Dice.

“They serve at the pleasure of the board and council,” Little said.

Duncan said he hopes Dice would reconsider the resignation and said he would be missed.

“His knowledge of municipal law is in my opinion second to none,” Duncan said.

Wratcher resigned as solicitor of the municipality’s zoning hearing board to take the new position.

Mayor Greg Erosenko would not say publicly whether officials had considered other candidates.

Both decisions are retroactive to Feb. 3, when Little received Dice’s letter of resignation.

Johns said Wratcher is a great attorney, but he’s not sure how he will fit as solicitor of Monroeville.

“I’m not sure how savvy he is in municipal affairs,” Johns said.

Erosenko wished Dice luck and said he is looking forward to working with Wratcher.

“He will be missed,” Erosenko said of Dice.

Emily Balser is a Tribune-Review staff writer. She can be reached at 412-871-2369 or ebalser@tribweb.com.

Emily Balser is a Tribune-Review staff reporter. You can contact Emily at 412-871-2369, emilybalser@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

TribLIVE commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.