CINCINNATI — Hamilton County is shuffling its lineup of lawyers who handle riverfront development matters, including lease negotiations with the Cincinnati Bengals and Reds.
It's a monumental shift for the county, which has mainly relied on one lawyer, Tom Gabelman, for matters involving The Banks riverfront project.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich instigated the change by urging commissioners to replace Gabelman's Frost Brown Todd law firm with attorneys from two other local firms: Dinsmore and Vorys.
"Sometimes when you have fresh eyes on a situation, you come up with a fresh idea, and I think this is the time for it to happen," Pillich told commissioners. "I want to ensure that you have the tools that you need to be effective, not just in your work here but particularly in delivering a fair deal for the taxpayers, especially this year related to Paycor Stadium."
To accomplish the change, commissioners unanimously approved two resolutions. Both were added to the county commission agenda a few minutes before the May 15 meeting began. They were a surprise to Gabelman, who said he was notified of the change about an hour before the vote.
"I would just like to say, as the project counsel to the board for the past 28 years, it has been an honor and a privilege to serve this board until about an hour and 15 minutes ago when I received a call that our services were being terminated," Gabelman said.
Hear more from Gabelman and commissioners about the change below:
Gabelman's two law firms have billed Hamilton County an average of $1 million annually since 2000. He has defended those fees as an investment that prevented cost overruns, attracted new developments, and brought state and federal funding to The Banks.
"Our entire retention has always been more than just about protecting the interests of the county," Gabelman told commissioners before Thursday's vote. "It's a return on investment and a cost benefit, so that always (the cost of) our services were far less than the benefits that were received - from day one."
But Pillich said she met with each of the three commissioners after she was elected, and heard about their unhappiness with Gabelman's work.
"A lot of frustration. They expressed a need for improving their communications with their legal counsel. They wanted to have clarity on the work he was doing. And they wanted to try to focus on the results they were desiring," Pillich said. "They were unhappy, so we launched on this effort to get some new counsel for them."
The vote means the Dinsmore firm will help county prosecutors negotiate a new lease with the Bengals and develop The Banks. Because Dinsmore also represents the Cincinnati Reds, the Vorys firm will work on matters pertaining to the Reds and Great American Ballpark.
"I do want to personally thank Frost for all their work in the past on these projects," Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto said. "This isn't reflective of anything related to the work of that firm, but just more reflective of the fact that, there comes a time in major projects when a different perspective on major issues is needed."
Pillich said she had never met Gabelman until he showed up unexpectedly at Thursday's meeting. She hopes he works toward a smooth transition with his replacement lawyers.
"When someone has a significant contract with the county and has made $26 million off of the taxpayers, and I call him six times before even taking office, I would think he might give me a call back," Pillich said.
Critics of the stalled development at The Banks have blamed Gabelman, who they say became the unofficial leader after the Joint Banks Steering Committee stopped meeting in 2019.
“It was a power vacuum,” said Chris Bortz, a former Cincinnati Councilman who worked extensively on The Banks during a 6-year period that began in 2005. “And so, the county deferred to their attorney, who had been involved since the beginning.”
New lawyers would come in at a critical time for the county. The Bengals' lease expires in 2026, and the team has until June to decide if it wants to extend it.
In January, the county and the Bengals accused each other of violating their lease agreement for Paycor Stadium, in a series of letters and emails obtained by the WCPO 9 I-Team.
“The county has not performed its obligations under the lease,” Bengals Vice President Troy Blackburn wrote to Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto on January 9. “With the stadium entering its final lease year, the situation stands very much at a precipice, and we hope progress can be made so the stadium remains an asset for the community.”
WCPO 9 I-Team has been reporting on Gabelman’s legal bills since 2016. Since 2000, the two law firms where Gabelman has worked have billed the county more than $25 million.
In a 2022 interview, former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley questioned why the county was spending so much at Gabelman’s law firm to negotiate with the Cincinnati Bengals, when the city used its staff attorneys to negotiate a stadium deal with FC Cincinnati in 2018.
The commissioners are ultimately in charge of how much the county spends on outside attorneys. Commissioners voted in 2016 to cap the fees it pays to Gabelman’s firm at $575,000. But they agreed in most years since then to exceed that limit and pay even more in legal bills.
During an interview with WCPO in 2019, Gabelman toured The Banks, pointing out the drastic improvements over the years. He helped develop Great American Ball Park, negotiate leases with the Cincinnati Bengals and General Electric, and bring life to The Banks.
“This was a mud pit. There was a gulf between the ballpark and the Freedom Center. There was nothing,” Gabelman said in 2019. “Right now, it’s one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in the country.”
But criticism of stalled developments at The Banks intensified this year, as business leaders such as FC Cincinnati co-CEO Jeff Berding pushed to build a new arena to replace the aging Heritage Bank Center.
"The Banks is a disappointment," Berding told a Cincinnati Rotary Club roundtable on Jan. 9. "The Banks Working Group, which is the group we created when I was on council with the city and the county, hasn't really done its job that well. It's run out of energy."
The Dinsmore lawyers who will work with the Bengals and The Banks are partners George Vincent, Marty Dunn, Richard Tranter, and Charlie Baverman.
Vorys partner Kristin Woeste will lead the county's work with the Reds.
Gabelman took a swipe at the new firms during a speech to commissioners at the meeting, in which he had to ask Driehaus for extra time. She gave him one additional minute.
"We’ve done that at a significantly discounted rate at $250 dollars an hour. And we learned recently that Vorys is getting paid twice that amount," Gabelman said.
The county will pay Dinsmore partners $450 per hour, and other lawyers $250; and Vorys' partners $425 per hour, and other lawyers $250.
The lawyers will work with county prosecutors and David Abrams, of New York-based Inner Circle Sports, who signed a contract with Hamilton County in October 2023.
Abrams, an expert on stadium negotiation, is being paid $25,000 per month on retainer, with an additional fee of up to $450,000 possible — if his advice leads to a new lease with the Cincinnati Bengals.
