South-Western schools contracts lawyer who was billing $20,000 a month

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GROVE CITY, Ohio (WCMH) -- South-Western City School District parents protested the approval of an official contract with a lawyer in a special school board meeting last Monday.

Audience cries of “Clueless!” “Unqualified!” and “Waste of money!” underscored the July 22 board meeting. In a 3-1 vote with one board member absent, the district approved an official contract with Omar Tarazi, the lawyer who previously attracted attention for billing around $20,000 per month for undisclosed legal services. 

Tarazi’s new six-month contract is valid through Dec. 31, with the option to renew it in January. According to the contract, Tarazi will receive a flat rate of $9,000 each month with additional billings of up to $300 an hour for “non-routine services.” Tarazi is also able to charge the district for expenses he incurs on its behalf, such as long-distance phone calls or postal services, the contract said.

At the meeting, audience members repeatedly asked for the opportunity to address the board. This request was not granted, and according to the district website, public comment is only available at regularly scheduled meetings. Board members did repeatedly ask audience members to stop commenting as they continued to speak out as the board deliberated.

Speaking outside the meeting, Chandra Fredrick, a parent in the district and a former lawyer herself, said she is frustrated by the school board’s decision. 

“While I am not surprised that Mr. Boso and a majority of the board ignored community concerns yet again, I am frustrated by their continued lack of transparency,” Frederick said. 

NBC4 reached out to multiple board members about the decision, including board president Chris Boso. They said any questions should be sent to Evan Debo, executive director of communications for the district, who had already said he could not speak on behalf of board members. Board members did not respond to NBC4’s emails explaining Debo’s response. 

The contract went into effect at the time of signing, and Debo confirmed the payment schedule does include July. With this schedule, Tarazi will receive a minimum of $54,000 from the district in the next six months. 

That is only if he does not provide any services outside of his contract, which involves attending school board meetings, drafting legislation and other documents on behalf of the district, giving legal advice and providing legal training to the board.

Tarazi said the flat rate places him on retainer, as opposed to using the hourly billing the district had previously paid him on. Debo said the new contract would avoid varying invoice amounts, and that laying out Tarazi’s responsibilities in a contract will help provide clarity on his services.

This $54,000 minimum will add to money he has already collected from the district in the last six months.  

From a total of $117,146.82 granted to Tarazi, Debo said $23,533.62 went to K-12 Business Consulting for the district’s superintendent search and $16,150 was subtracted for “other professional services from search,” leaving Tarazi with a $77,463.82 profit. 

Debo said Tarazi’s invoices were on par with other legal expenses for the district. For January through June, Tarazi was the third highest billed legal service for the district, out of seven. However, this amount does not include any July invoices, including Tarazi's July 3 bill.

INVOICE PERIODS	INVOICE TOTALS
Jan. 22-March 1	$23,823
March 2-25	$22,932
March 26-July 3	$31,261.18
March 26 (superintendent search)	$22,980
May 24 (superintendent search)	$16,150
PRE-CONTRACT TOTAL*	$117,146.82

*The pre-contract total is not Tarazi's profit, as he made payments on behalf of the district.

One parental concern is transparency around what these payments are for, with mentions of transparency at Monday’s board meeting drawing audible laughter. NBC4 received the invoices between Tarazi and the school board; however, the itemized lists are completely redacted except for dates, length of services and the total charges.

Citing attorney-client privilege in a previous interview with NBC4, Tarazi would not specify what these legal services were. School board minutes confirm he did help with the search for the new superintendent as part of these services. 

At the special meeting, board members said Tarazi has helped the board handle various situations in the past six months, adding these instances may involve students and family members and are not for public ears. 

"A district has every kind of legal issue that comes up," Tarazi said. "There's a lot of different aspects of law, and I have a lot of experience in the area the board wants me to help them with."

However, community members at the special meeting voiced concern with Tarazi's lack of education law experience. When board members pointed out larger charges from previous legal counsel, audience members yelled back that those lawyers had been more qualified.

Camille Peterson was the only board member to vote against the contract. She specified she could only speak for herself during comments at the board meeting but said she had concerns. Peterson said she wanted the opportunity to build a relationship with the new superintendent without legal counsel interfering and said she wanted all board members to be part of the process. 

Board member Kelli Martindale said she was attending a professional conference and had requested the meeting to be moved to Thursday so she could attend, which was denied.

"I understand he is in the middle of handling a few matters for the district, and I look forward to re-evaluating his contract in December," she said regarding Tarazi's contract.

Tarazi will attend all board meetings he is asked to by the board president from now until the end of the year, according to the contract. He said he has already attended a number of board meetings this year, namely the ones with executive sessions.

“I do question if we are being financially responsible with the district and taxpayer funds when we are voting on a contract of this purpose,” Peterson said.