Residents of Hamilton County ought to be madder than hornets today while our Hamilton County commissioners — all 11 of them — and our county mayor and our former (or is he still?) county attorney spend our tax dollars on more attorneys so they can all salve their swollen egos.
While the meter spins on expensive lawyers, we’re left trying to figure out who will slap whom with a lawsuit next.
So far:
> County Mayor Weston Wamp has gotten two legal opinions, one at cost of $5,000, saying he could fire long-time County Attorney Rheubin Taylor, the only county employee with a contract, and one allowing him to do private attorney work while serving as the county’s attorney. In 2021, Taylor’s contract was extended into 2025 by the former county mayor and the former county commission.
> The new commission swelled up over Taylor’s firing and hired its own separate attorney to the tune of at least $10,000, passed a resolution rehiring Taylor, a resolution protecting Taylor’s office, and two additional resolutions to establish a civil service system for the county and placing a moratorium on further terminations until that civil service system could be set in place.