County attorney search unravels
By Gabriel Tynes
Walton County Human Resources Director Gary Mattison reported the four top candidates for the vacant county attorney position have either taken other jobs or withdrawn their candidacy. On Tuesday, the Board of County Commissioners asked County Administrator Ronnie Bell to work with the human resources department to study other options.
In January, a screening committee ruled out 20 other applicants, but after Mattison?s announcement all prior applications may be revisited. Commission Chairman Ken Pridgen suggested another option would be to retain the county?s interim legal advisor Mike Burke. As a partner in the Seagrove firm Burke, Blue, Hutchinson and Walters, Burke is also committed to private obligations.
Bell said he plans to evaluate the options based on economics, availability and access.
?We need to know is someone going to be in the office that we can sit down with face to face or if someone will be there to take a phone call when we need it,? Bell said. ?I think we have five commissioners with five different ideas on what to do next so we need to get it sorted out.?
During the BCC meeting Tuesday, district four Commissioner Sara Commander reported that the county?s two staff attorneys were constantly ?swamped,? juggling a work load that could be better managed with additional employees. Meanwhile, the county has also accepted applications for two other legal positions, but Mattison wants the new county attorney to help select those hires.
The county attorney position has been vacant since Dec. 1 when David Hallman resigned. He has since accepted the same position in Nassau County. Bell said that due to the complexity of the search, it may be another four weeks before suggestions are returned to the BCC.
This fits me to a T. This is my specialty. I hope there are positions when I graduate in three years.