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Motion to seek state attorney general's opinion on hiring vs. appointment fails
Summary
A motion to authorize the county attorney to seek an advisory opinion from the state attorney general about whether a particular local position is an appointed office or a hired employee failed for lack of a majority after discussion about legal ambiguity.
Commissioner S6 moved to authorize the county attorney to request an advisory opinion from the Indiana Attorney General to resolve whether a contested local position should be classified as an appointed office or as a hired employee role. The motion was seconded by Commissioner S3.
"I'm gonna make a motion to allow Andrew to get hold of the State Attorney General ... I just feel like I would feel more comfortable if we had this attorney general from the state making that recommendation to us," S6 said.
County staff (S4) summarized prior research: "I was hoping for 1 after a couple hours of research ... I dug in, I think, about as deep as you can get with it, and I was not able to find a 100% clear answer. The law is not set on it as clear as it should be." Commissioners debated whether the mayor's description and existing case law supported one classification or the other; one commissioner characterized the matter as political and said they would defer to the mayor.
The motion was put to a vote and the chair announced it failed for lack of a majority after an abstention was recorded; the transcript does not contain a roll-call tally listing each commissioner's recorded vote. Commissioners agreed some members would pursue additional research on the question.
The meeting record shows no directive to seek a formal AG opinion was adopted at that time; staff had already performed county-led research and additional inquiry by commissioners or other parties was noted as possible next steps.
