Council postpones vote on hiring law firms

Londonderry’s Town Council is at odds over legal matters pertaining to hiring outside law firms to handle complaints and allegations of misconduct against the town manager.

The Town Council held a special meeting on Monday (June 29) to vote on two engagement letters for two law firms for both the council and the town manager. But the vote was postponed after one councilor exercised council privilege on the matter.

The council determined it had “become necessary” to engage a new law firm because of the numerous complaints the town has received regarding Town Manager Shaun Mulholland, Town Council Chair Ron Dunn said at the beginning of the meeting.

The council is also aware of allegations and investigations into those complaints, Dunn said.

It has not been stated what the investigation pertains to related to the town manager.

Dunn said allegations of serious misconduct require a thorough investigation, and it was determined the investigation should be carried out by a separate law firm that provides the town with general legal advice.

One engagement letter pertained to law firm Sheehan Phinney Bass and Green to serve as general counsel to the town for $375 an hour. The other letter of engagement had Shaheen and Gordon representing and advising the Town Council about the town charter and other governance issues between $335 to $500 an hour, depending on the attorney.

Town Council voted to establish a legal subcommittee to limit legal costs on June 15 after Finance Director Justin Campo explained how the town has used $281,298 on legal expenditures for fiscal 2026 through June 15, more than the $200,000 budgeted for legal expenses.

The council has been in disagreement about legal matters during the last few months.

On April 20, Dunn told the council that he had received an anonymous case number three months prior and sought a vote to conduct an unspecified investigation. That motion failed with one councilor abstaining from the vote. An executive session was held later that night regarding an investigation.

The council separately discussed a possible investigation into Councilor Ted Combes for allegedly violating the town charter. Mulholland read a memorandum for the record to the council regarding the violation at the May 18 meeting.

Dunn then addressed the statement about Combes two weeks later.

He said a “lawful process” was underway, council couldn’t comment on it and that legal counsel needed to review it. Councilor Dan Bouchard asked for the council to move forward with a formal investigation into the charter violation allegations, but the motion failed, according to meeting minutes.

Another motion failed for the town manager to retain independent legal counsel, on behalf of the town, to investigate and pursue any necessary actions related to the charter violations. But Mulholland said, because of the deadlock vote, he was required to enforce the provisions of the charter.

An executive session was held on June 3 to consider legal advice.

Bouchard explained on Monday that there was an urgency to hire an attorney, but there was no vote, no hire and no interviews earlier in the month. He also said Dunn then hired an attorney without the council’s input.

On June 22, Bouchard said Dunn stated that there was a letter of engagement that needed to be reviewed by the council.

Bouchard invoked council privilege on Monday to not vote on the engagement letters with the law firms. He said a request for quote (RFQ) went out for legal counsel and for Mulholland to send out the RFQ. He said the council hasn’t received information back.

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