Chesco getting new solicitor

A prosecutor in the state Attorney General’s Office who has been called “a tireless advocate for justice” is expected to be named the new Chester County Solicitor, an office that has been roiled recently in a controversy over inflated legal bills to the county.

The county commissioners are set to appoint Nicole McCauley Forzato as head of the county’s legal office, after having selected her over four other possible candidates for the position, including the current Deputy Solicitor. The vote is scheduled to take place at the commissioners next business meeting later this month.

Forzato would become the first woman to head the office, which

is responsible for initiating and defending civil lawsuits involving the county and its various departments, as well as providing legal advice to the commissioners ad other county officials in their day-to-day business under the state’s County Code. She would also be the first Democrat to head that office, something not unexpected given the change in the county government’s political power structure from GOP controlled to Democratic Party dominant.

Forzato, 44, of Easttown, currently serves as a Senior Deputy Attorney General in that office’s Criminal Prosecutions section in Norristown. She had previously served as an Assistant Montgomery County Solicitor, where she worked with then-Commissioner Josh Shapiro, now her boss as state Attorney General.

Upon hiring her in 2017 to work with him in the AG’s Office, Shapiro called Forzato, a former Montgomery County prosecutor, “a tireless advocate for justice.

“I saw firsthand her commitment to public service and I am excited that she is joining our team in the Office of Attorney General to protect the safety and welfare of all Pennsylvanians,” said Shapiro at the time.

On Friday, Shapiro said Forzato, “has done outstanding work for the Commonwealth during her tenure with the Office of Attorney General. Commissioner (Chairwoman Marian) Moskowitz made a great choice and we wish Nicole the best of luck.”

Contacted on Friday, Forzato expressed excitement at having the opportunity to come work in the county.

“I was in the Montgomery County Solicitor’s Office for five years, and I truly loved that job,” she said in a telephone interview. “I moved to Chester County a little over a year and a half ago, and I think this is an amazing county. When I saw the opportunity to potentially serve the county, I was excited for it. I think I am a good fit.”

Forzato expressed confidence that she was up to the task of leading the office.

“I think to be in the Solicitor’s Office, you need a varied set of skills. You’re looking out for the county departments. I have a great deal of experience with litigation and municipal law, skills you need to be able to navigate and work in that office.

“The most important thing is that I love public service work,” she stressed. “I really do. I have an understanding of my obligation to the taxpayers, to do the best job I can do, to take everything seriously, and to handle those legal matters appropriately.”

Two attorneys who know Forzato said the county had made an excellent choice in her selection.

“She is a great lawyer, with a very even temperament,” said Evan Kelly of the Kelly & Bellwoar firm in West Chester. “She is really easy to work with. The county is lucky to have her.”

Said Michael Noone, the former county First Assistant District Attorney, now in private practice in West Chester, Forzato is “very qualified and very professional.

“She is always well prepared,” commented Noone, who said he had known Forzato not only as a fellow student at Villanova Law School but in her capacity as Montgomery County solicitor and in the AG’s office. “She is a hard worker, she is very professional and ethical, and she’s a nice person.

“I think the hard working people of the the county government will enjoy working with her as solicitor, and the citizens of Chester County will benefit from her experience and dedication,” Noone said.

Forzato will succeed Thomas Whiteman, who has been in the Solicitor’s Office for more than two decades, and was selected to be the county’s first full-time holder of that title. Prior to his promotion, the position had been a political appointment, with longtime GOP stalwart John Halstead serving for several years in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s while also working at his own law firm, Gawthrop, Greenwood & Halstead in West Chester.

Whiteman notified the commissioners in January that he intended to retire this month, and now works in a part-time position during the transition.

In a joint statement issued Friday, commissioners Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michelle Kichline took notice of Whiteman’s departure and Forzato’s impending arrival.

“Tom Whiteman’s decades of service in the Chester County Solicitor’s Office, and the counsel he has provided as county Solicitor to many boards of commissioners, has been greatly valued,” the trio said. “We certainly wish him well in his retirement, and know that his will be a tough act to follow.

“After interviews with a number of highly qualified applicants, Nicole Forzato is the person who we will put forward for a formal vote as the new Chester County Solicitor at our July 30 commissioners’ meeting,” they said.

The county Solicitor’s Office came under some critical scrutiny recently after it was discovered by a pipeline safety activist from Uwchlan that the county had overpaid an attorney with a Philadelphia law firm that had been hired to represent the county in litigation involving the muchdebated Mariner East Pipeline projects. The attorney, Margaret Morris of the firm Reger, Rizzo and Darnall, had apparently overbilled the county an estimated $15,785 for the period from March 2019 to October 2019.

The excess charges included billing the county $425 an hour rather than the agreed-upon $400 an hour fee, plus inflating hours showing Morris working more than 24 hours on two dates, when she later said she had actually worked only eight hours.

The bills were approved by both the county Solicitor’s Office and the county Controller’s Office without anyone initially noticing the over-billing. The commissioners said this month that approval was due to “human error,” while Controller Margaret Reif said that her office was wrong to have approved them without question and would adjust future practices when accepting bills for payment from the Solicitor’s Office.

Forzato, who attended Notre Dame Academy in Villanova for high school and then Villanova University as an undergraduate, is married to former Montgomery County Detective Lt. Stephen Forzato. He is now the head of the Center for Addiction and Recovery at St. Joseph’s University, his Alma Mater.

Asked if their dueling collegiate allegiances interfered with their relationship come NCAA basketball season, Forzato laughed.

“I am a die-hard Villanova basketball fan,” she said. “I mean, how could you not be? My husband, well, he tolerates me.”

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.