In addition to facing allegations that he overcharged two developmentally disabled Arkansans, Van Buren attorney Gentry C. Wahlmeier recently faced questions about his firm’s invoices to the Crawford County Library System.
During a March 14 Library System board meeting, a board member asked Wahlmeier about his invoices, totaling $26,000, because the bills were exceptionally high and didn’t include many details, according to a March 23 article in Talk Business & Politics.
The two invoices, obtained by Arkansas Business through a Freedom of Information Act request, don’t show the number of hours worked for the period covering Oct. 14 through Feb. 3, as do all previous invoices dating back to January 2020. Wahlmeier’s firm billed the Library System for legal services and the descriptions listed were for “extraordinary research,” “extraordinary advisement” and “correspondence.”
Wahlmeier, who didn’t return calls from Arkansas Business, told the board that the legal services were used more than usual during that period, according to TB&P. The Library System has faced questions from patrons about books with LGBTQ+ themes.
The Wahlmeier Law Firm submitted one invoice in December for $12,000 and another in February for $14,000. After Wahlmeier submitted the December invoice, the Library System asked him in a Dec. 19 email to provide “an itemized statement for our records.”
Wahlmeier responded in an Jan. 6 email that he didn’t read too much into the request “because you likely just wish for it to be itemized for an auditor. In the case that it was because you were upset with the amount, I am penning this email.”
He apparently was referencing a library patron who challenged if certain books with LGBTQ+ themes should be in the library.
“No one has tried these issues before,” Wahlmeier wrote. He said that he had to hire someone “just to chat with me about it.”
Still, he said that he intended to continue to represent the Library System. “As a result of the time, high risk, and exposure it is subjecting me to, the library will continue to receive invoices that are substantially higher than they have been historically,” Wahlmeier wrote.
But in a May 23 letter to the Library System obtained by the Arkansas Times, Wahlmeier said he must resign because of a potential conflict of interest involving a law that goes into effect Aug. 1. Act 372 concerns how the public can challenge libraries over “obscene” material. Wahlmeier said in the letter that a challenger might appeal to the Crawford County judge and Quorum Court, which he also advises.
He told the Library System that he would remain in an advisory capacity until the end of June and suggested that it hire another attorney.
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