The five Republicans serving on the Ledyard Town Council promised to be fiscally prudent, but it was a minority Democrat who stood up for taxpayers this week ending Republican Mayor Fred Allyn Jr.'s legal-spending frenzy.

The mayor has proven he has an insatiable appetite for retaining lawyers for advice on all sorts of issues and problems, but Councilor Sharon Wadecki put him on a diet Wednesday night when she insisted on a vote that curtails Mr. Allyn's lawyer-penchant by capping his legal spending for the rest of the fiscal year. The council unanimously concurred.

It should have happened months ago. The council has long been aware of Mayor Allyn's overreliance on legal advice.

As of March 1, he was already 33.9 percent, or $57,626, over the $232,000 allotted for legal counsel in 2009-10, with four months left to go. This appears to violate the town charter stipulation that a mayor cannot overspend an account by more than 10 percent without council authorization. So where has the council been? Are members not receiving and reading monthly appropriation summaries? Or are the summaries incorrect?

Councilor Jim Diaz, a Republican, pointed to charter language - Chapter VII, Section 13-H - which basically says employees authorizing payments in violation of the charter can be held liable and that such action can be cause for removal.

While removal is a drastic action, the council certainly needs to be far more aggressive in monitoring the mayor's conduct. The legal fee cap is a modest first step. Mayor Allyn has 20 months left in his term. That's a long time.

The mayor's unorthodox leadership style continues to create ill-will at Town Hall, resulting in his frequent calls to lawyers. The unusual level of personnel disputes unnecessarily exposes the town to litigation.

Ledyard needs a leader. The town has an expired police contract that the administration's been unable to settle. Confusion reigns over the size and nature of a proposed municipal water-rate hike. The long-running federal court dispute with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, over whether leased property at the reservation should be subject to local property taxes, drags on.

Through it all, Mayor Allyn has continued to thumb his nose at the council, walking out of Wednesday's meeting before members finished discussing the legal-fee issue. But while he's showing that lack of respect to the council, really it's the taxpayers who are short-changed.