Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel And Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners discuss creating a county staff attorney position to speed routine legal work
Summary
The board discussed hiring a staff attorney to handle routine and government‑specific legal matters in‑house, reduce outside counsel fees and provide faster turnaround on ordinances, contracts and other county needs.
Commissioners discussed the potential to hire a full‑time county staff attorney to work alongside existing outside counsel and the county attorney, with the goal of improving turnaround on routine legal work and reducing billable outside legal fees.
Several commissioners said a staff attorney would take some of the day‑to‑day drafting and review tasks off outside firms and allow the county attorney to focus on higher‑priority litigation and complex matters. One commissioner noted experience with a staff‑attorney model in city government and said the role could include ordinance drafting, routine contract review and coordination with specialized outside counsel when necessary.
Commissioners discussed that hiring a staff attorney would not replace current RFPs or outside counsel for specialized matters, but could reduce use of billable outside hours for low‑complexity tasks. They asked staff to prepare a job description, proposed compensation and a plan showing how a staff attorney’s workload would offset current outside counsel costs.
No hiring decision was made; commissioners asked administration to return in February with a proposal and budget implications.
