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Board retains county attorney firm after members remove automatic-renewal clause
Summary
Claiborne County supervisors voted to retain Stingley Law Firm as board counsel but amended the contract to remove an automatic one-year renewal clause after a prolonged discussion about fees, contract terms and oversight.
Claiborne County supervisors voted Jan. 6 to retain Stingley Law Firm as the county—s board attorney while striking a clause that would have caused the contract to automatically renew each Jan. 1.
The move follows more than an hour of discussion in which several supervisors raised concerns about the automatic-renewal language and about the amount and timing of payments to the firm. Tom Stingley, who spoke to the board, defended the contract as legal and said a termination clause and statutory citations were included. He also said he has discounted his typical hourly rate for board work.
The board considered an initial motion to retain Stingley—s firm pending contract negotiations, and Supervisor Hudson amended that motion to specify removing the automatic-renewal paragraph. The amended motion was seconded and carried after a roll call vote. Several supervisors said they wanted time to review invoices and payroll records before approving other specific contract terms.
Board discussion included references to Mississippi Code Section 19-3-47 (employment of county counsel) and whether the language as written had the effect of obligating the county for a full year without a subsequent annual vote. Stingley told the board his firm had reviewed the law and that the contract language was intended to reflect statutory authority for the board to employ counsel on a yearly basis. He also said invoices contained proprietary information and that detailed billing discussion could raise attorney-client and privacy issues.
Supervisors asked the county clerk and interim administrator to provide payroll and invoice records for the firm going back at least one year so they could review payment patterns and compare them to the contract terms. The board directed staff to pursue that follow-up and to bring a revised contract to a future meeting if the firm and the board agree on edits.
The formal action recorded in the meeting minutes instructs that Stingley Law Firm be retained as board counsel with the contract amended to remove the automatic-renewal clause; other contract terms remained subject to future review and possible renegotiation.
The decision ends the immediate contract debate but leaves open further review of invoices and other contract details at a later date.
