The DeKalb County Finance, Audit & Budget Committee debated a proposed FY25 budget amendment to establish an Office of Legislative Counsel and authorized a two-week deferral to gather additional information on scope, budget and potential conflicts with the county attorney’s office.

Commissioner Nicole Messia (cosponsor) and Commissioner Michelle Long Spears described the proposal as a resource to give the Board of Commissioners direct access to legislative research, drafting support and policy analysis. Long Spears outlined a $65,000 budget amendment for the remainder of the year that would include $30,000 for salary and benefits, $25,000 for operations/office setup and $10,000 for professional services and legislative research tools; the request also included language permitting up to an additional $20,000 in 2025 if needed.

County Attorney Linkus told the committee the county attorney’s office retains ultimate authority on legal conflicts and that materials drafted by an Office of Legislative Counsel would still require review by the county attorney "to approve it as to form." Linkus described an internal assignment process for commissioner requests and said the law department is developing a HiQ-based dashboard to allow commissioners to track status of requests and projects.

Chief of Staff McKenzie and Deputy Attorney Welsh responded to questions about policy analysts and internal capacity; McKenzie said the chief of staff’s office typically assigns committee research to staff and that some requests are limited to issues that apply to the whole board or a committee. Welsh said the law department already tracks attorney time allocation across clients and can provide data about where attorneys are spending time.

Committee members asked for additional information, including: the number of attorneys and filled versus vacant positions in the law department (County Attorney Linkus said there are 15 attorneys currently in 23 authorized positions), the extent of outside counsel engagements, and the dashboard timeline. Commissioners also raised process questions about whether central staff policy analysts could handle some work and whether creating the new office would add duplication.

After extended discussion and requests for supporting data, the committee voted to defer the FY25 budget amendment for two weeks so county staff and the law department could supply additional information. The motion to defer carried.