By JAMES FINK
Business First

For the past 18 years, the law firm of Hurwitz & Fine PC has served as general counsel to the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. Now, that relationship may end.

Philip Ackerman, agency chairman, has recommended that the ECIDA consider starting the request-for-proposals process to gauge interest from other area law firms to see if they want to bid on its work.

"This is not a reflection on Hurwitz & Fine," Ackerman said.

Ackerman said the genesis for his decision comes from mandated public-authority accountability training that he and other board members recently completed. Ackerman, National Fuel Gas Corp. chairman, said it was suggested during the state-required training session that boards should periodically put all major contracts and expenditures out to bid.

Ackerman is one of four new ECIDA board members appointed this year by Erie County Executive Christopher Collins. This is Ackerman's first time on the economic-development agency board.

"This should be a routine procedure, and the process has got to be fair and objective," said Philip Corwin, agency vice chairman.

After debating the issue for more than 20 minutes, board members agreed that their Governance Committee should first set a procurement policy governing the counsel contract and other major expenditures, and that those recommendations should be presented at the agency's July meeting. Only after the policy is approved would the ECIDA consider issuing requests for qualifications and a request-for-proposals bid package.

The game plan, however, has some ECIDA board members questioning whether the legal-services contract should be put through the same bidding process and procedures as other aspects of the agency's services.

"Legal services is an ongoing thing," said Dennis Penman, M.J. Peterson Real Estate Corp. executive vice president. "Sometimes you really have to be sensitive not to take a vendor approach to legal services. For my company and other companies, the relationship we have with our counsel is critical."

Robert Fine, Hurwitz & Fine CEO and chairman, said his firm - the region's ninth largest - has been "honored" to serve as the ECIDA's general counsel for the past 18 years.

Ackerman said if the agency does go ahead with the legal-services RFP - something that appears likely - he expects Hurwitz & Fine to bid and make a strong push to retain its position.

"I'm not suggesting we have to change (firms)," Ackerman said. "But it is appropriate to see where we are."

Barry Brandon, chairman of the ECIDA's Governance Committee and legal counsel for Seneca Gaming Corp., said the RFP process is a matter of sound business practices.

"From a business standpoint, we owe it our shareholders to get the best price," Brandon said. "This is not a reflection on Hurwitz & Fine, but this is the real world, and this is how it works. Nobody gets a free ride without an automatic review."