Beaufort County commissioners voted to approve a new legal services agreement this week and then swore in Anna Passman as the county attorney.

The agreement presented to the board replaces the prior individual contract with Attorney Francisco and designates a law firm (listed in the agreement as the firm with Attorney Sassenett designated as the county attorney) to provide county legal services for an initial term running from Jan. 6 through Dec. 31 of the year, subject to mutual extension. The document adjusts billing rules and hours compared with the prior agreement: it moves the engagement to the firm level, reduces the annual block hours previously contracted and uses quarter-hour billing increments. The county manager’s presentation also compared the contract rate to the original 2014 hourly rate and noted the current rate is below the inflation-adjusted figure.

Commissioners asked questions about potential conflicts when the firm represents municipal clients that might be adversarial to county interests; the presenter said state bar ethics would require withdrawal from representation in any adversarial conflict. Commissioner Richardson stressed that the county attorney must represent the whole board equally and objected to polling commissioners privately by email. Those concerns were addressed during the public discussion before the vote.

After the board approved the agreement by voice/hand vote, Anna Passman was sworn into office and took the oath to “well and truly serve the state of North Carolina and the office of attorney for Beaufort County.”

The board did not record a roll-call tally in the meeting minutes; the county manager indicated the county attorney serves at the pleasure of the board and the contract is a board decision.