GLOVERSVILLE — The lawyer for fired Gloversville city clerk Gary Margiotta is asking a federal judge to block the city's attorneys from deposing officials in the western New York village where Margiotta now works.

Elmer Robert Keach III, representing Margiotta in his wrongful dismissal suit, wrote to Judge George H. Lowe today asking for a conference on the issue and a protective order blocking the planned depositions.

Lawyers with the city's firm, Girvin & Ferlazzo, issued subpoenas this week seeking to depose three Avon village officials, including the former and current mayors and the former city clerk, July 23 in Rochester. Margiotta was hired as assistant clerk in Avon, his hometown, following his sudden and unexplained dismissal in Gloversville on Dec. 29, 2006.

In his letter to the court, Keach terms the subpoenas a form of harassment and protests that the city's action gives only two weeks notice and requires travel to Rochester, just north of Avon. Should Lowe allow the depositions, Keach asks they be adjourned to a mutually convenient date.

In comments Friday, "This is nothing more than a shallow effort to harass Gary and humiliate him where he now lives," Keach said today. "It is also an indication [Girvin & Ferlazzo] know this litigation is not going well for them."

Keach said the maneuver puts the city's credibility in jeopardy and "does nothing to foster a resolution of this case."

Greg Johnson, the lead lawyer on the case for Girvin & Ferlazzo, could not be reached for today.

The two sides are due in conference before Lowe on July 16 in U.S. District Court in Albany.