Dawson County May Bring Legal Services In-house

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The Dawson County Board of Commissioners dedicated much of Thursday’s work session to a discussion about bringing the function of county attorney in-house as opposed to contracting the work.

“It’s mainly an efficiency and economics issue,” said County Manager David Headley who added the county has used the firm of Fox, Chandler, Homans, Hicks and McKenna for nearly 20 years.

The county was billed $190,673.64 for legal services in 2015 and $167,530.69 thus far in 2016.

“There is a definite interest on the part of some commissioners to make a change,” Headley said.

Chairman Mike Berg, who will be leaving the Board at the end of this month, cautioned fellow commissioners to be careful what they wish for, however.

Berg said the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners chose to hire in-house counsel several years ago. “The first couple of years we spent twice as much as we planned.”

He also noted that while commissioners had put together a list of qualifications for the job they also need a scope of work to outline in detail exactly what work an in-house attorney would be expected to perform.

No action was taken but Headley said the Board is likely to vote on the issue next Tuesday since the current legal services contract will expire on Dec. 31.