Baton Rouge attorney Tim Hardy says that contrary to reports out of Shreveport, he has not “fired” the city as a client, nor does he represent the city on environmental matters.
It’s not uncommon for a client to fire his attorney, but for an attorney to fire his client?
Pretty rare, especially if that client is a fairly large municipality paying significant fees. For law firms putting a fair amount of emphasis on rainmaking (legal parlance for bringing in clients), it’s practically unprecedented.
But in the case of the City of Shreveport, LouisianaVoice was told that’s exactly what happened. Shreveport has been mired in decades-long battles with the Environmental Protection Agency over illegal sewerage discharges, but Hardy said his work with the city was not involved in matters concerning the consent decree over illegal discharges into the Red River.
TIM HARDY
“I will say this,” Hardy told LouisianaVoice, “there likely will be discussions going forward concerning my representation of the city in other matters. But I have not ‘fired’ the city, nor has there been any communication between me and the city regarding anything of that nature.”
A source close to the city informed LouisianaVoice on Saturday that Hardy had severed his relationship with the city and that the dispute was over the ongoing controversy surrounding the consent decree.
Having already paid a $650,000 fine to the EPA, while agreeing to the 146-page CONSENT DECREE entered into under the administration of former Mayor Cedric Glover in 2014, the city saw the cost of compliance mushroom from $350 million to $1 billion.
A year ago, Mayor Adrian Perkins appointed Burns and McDonnel/Bonton to oversee compliance and Hardy, a Shreveport native and a partner in the Baton Rouge law firm BREAZEALE, SACHSE & WILSON was retained for legal representation in other matters, Hardy said.
The consent decree was entered into after the city was cited for violations of the Clean Water Act in the form of discharges of untreated sewage into the Red River, according to an online EPA POSTING of the settlement agreement.
The city also posted its own VERSION of the agreement.
A state AUDIT of the city for the year ended December 31, 2017 addressed the ongoing problems with wastewater problems experienced by the city:
“A consent decree, with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), relative to wastewater improvements in Shreveport was officially filed in early 2014. The consent decree will require the city to make various wastewater treatment plant and sanitary sewer infrastructure improvements in order to reduce sanitary sewer overflows in the sewer collection system and meet wastewater discharge permit requirements under wet weather conditions.
“To fund the sewer improvement program, the City Council approved rate increases over a 10-year period. The first of those increases went into effect October 1, 2013. A 15% increase in sewer rates went into effect January 1, 2017. The Water & Sewerage department continues to work with the EPA to make sure the project stays on schedule. With most of the Phase 1 projects completed the City has started on Phase 2 projects while laying the ground work for Phase 3. To help fund that work an additional $120 million of Water & Sewer revenue bonds were sold in 2017.
“The City continues to pay off General Obligation Bonds; the City will pay off all but the 2011 and 2014 GOB debt in the next 3 years. Increases in Water and Sewer rates will fund the additional debt required to complete the project required by the consent decree. With most revenues flat, continuing services at current levels will be a challenge without additional revenues.”
Sewage discharge apparently isn’t the only environmental issue facing the city. An online report by Epic Water Filters cited a laundry list of contaminants found in Shreveport’s drinking water.
But whatever the problem with the sewage discharge, the city apparently was not heeding the advice of its legal representation and a frustrated Hardy finally called it quits on Friday.
LouisianaVoice attempted to contact Hardy for a comment, emailing him on Saturday, asking that he call us but did not respond until Sunday. “I didn’t call you back because I didn’t know who you were,” he said, adding he had never read LouisianaVoice.
Louisiana Voice 
I know Tim Hardy to be a good guy. Clifford, did you ever work with him?
I know Tim, but never had to work with him. At one point wasn’t he working in the attorney general’s office and also an agency head under Roemer?
Yes. He was an Assistant Secretary at DEQ and one of Buddy Roemer’s closest advisers on environmental matters. Roemer was the last governor we had who was actually interested in cleaning up the environment and Tim provided invaluable assistance in his attempts to do so. In addition to being an attorney and working for the Attorney General, he has a degree in chemistry and a lot of experience – even more now, than then.
If I remember correctly, we created the standing House Committee on the Environment. Which was merged back into Natural Resources when Tucker was speaker. I think the Senate still has their separate environment committee. I hear the only reason it still exists as a separate committee in the Senate is because it’s another chairmanship to dole out.
Forgot something there. I meant to say I think we created that committee when Roemer was governor.