The proposal for a full-time attorney has significantly changed this month. From my understanding, the changes include shifting the process of appointing an attorney from the Mayor to the commission, the advisory committee is optional, the salary is not set, and the provision for a 2/3 vote has been taken out. All in all, it appears to be a much more flexible and less binding resolution. The mayor adamantly opposed this at the steering committee meeting.
I am inclined to support this proposal for the following reasons:
1) The mayor never voiced specific reasons of why he was opposed to the changes. His main point was that the office holders hadn’t been informed of the changes. He said it was changing everything, but never gave any specifics of it changing anything or why the changes were bad.
2) The mayor said that he would bring “numbers” to support his proposal and show that it is cost-effective. I’m not aware of any numbers that he has shared with commissioners.
3) From my understanding of the resolution, this gives us an option to change the position of county attorney but does not bind us to any decisions.
4) I see this as moving forward on something that could potentially save taxpayers money.