The Austin City Council's finance and personnel committee approved the Austin law office of Baudler, Baudler, Maus & Blahnik to represent the city for another year, even though there was a $25,000 shortfall between revenues collected and legal fees owed to the firm.

However, many on the committee and council said the shortfall was understandable because this was the first year the firm was representing the city.

Dick Chaffee, At-Large council member and chair of finance/personnel committee said, "We had a contract with Baudler, Baudler, Maus and Blahnik to do a year of prosecution services for the city of Austin. The contract had an extension if we wanted to exercise it. I think, in all fairness to everyone to change now wouldn't be fair to the firm. I think they are doing an admirable job and they wanted to continue.

"How do we justify our action? I think one way you do that is by the number of cases they have removed from the backlog they inherited.

"The revenues are not yet matching our projects, but they're coming up and we think they will increase even more. When you're arguing cases in court instead of plea bargaining everything, that means you can't work on earning more revenues.

"We're getting more cases prosecuted now than ever before. The committee felt the Baudler firm has fulfilled what they agreed to do, but there's more work to be done.

"We get reports from the firm all the time and they are studied."

According to Tom dankert, finance director, the Baudler firm is paid $14,500 per month plus $5,000 a month for out-flow serviecs. The lattere refers to cases, where the Baudler firm's attorneys had prior contact or dealings with a client and had to remove themselvees because of a possible confllict of interest when they became the prosecutor in cases involving those same people.

Revenues are now between $95,000 and $100,000 for the first nine months of 2002 and "coming up," according to Dankert and Chaffee.

David Hoversten provides

day-to-day legal counseling services on contract negotiations, labor contracts, Austin Port Authority and otehr vicil matters. "Everything but prosecutions," according to Chaffee.

Dick Lang, 3rd Ward cuncil member and finance/personnel committee member: "We can justify keeping the Baudler firm because of the grgeat job they are doing to get rid of the backlog of cases. I think they're gooing a great job. They inherited a mess and they're cleaning it up."

"Yes. We get regular reports on the cases they are handling."

"We just didn't want to make a change now, because they really haven't been given a long enough oportunity to do the job they were hired to do. It's been only nine months since tghey took over."