After the Hamilton County auditor identified expenses with four legal vendors that she said didn't receive proper signoff from county officials, commissioners are asking County Attorney Rheubin Taylor to provide them with more regular reporting on those agreements.
"We've got to be more transparent at least within ourselves about how we do reports and how we gauge the amount of expense that we're accumulating," Commission Chairman Chip Baker, R-Signal Mountain, said during a meeting Wednesday.
Commissioners passed a resolution Wednesday that will require Taylor to provide elected officials with updates when his office enters into agreements for outside legal help. Taylor recommended those reports occur during the board's closed legal meetings. It does not otherwise change the existing purchasing process.
"I think the resolution's intent is to continue a tradition in which the county attorney's office ... is not subject to the same purchasing guidelines as every other facet of county government," Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp argued Wednesday. "That's really what it comes down to. It's meant to exempt them."
Wamp said the county's purchasing rules exist so the commission can provide oversight of public funds. He stated only the county attorney's office has that exemption.
"You're talking about literally enriching people or firms with massive amounts of taxpayer dollars," said Wamp, who sought to fire Taylor in October and is still involved in litigation against Taylor and the commission over the matter.
County Auditor Jenneth Randall said in a report issued on Dec. 7 that the county requires purchases of $25,000 or greater be presented by resolution to the County Commission and contracts in excess of that threshold receive OK by the mayor.
Over the last few years, certain expenses in the county attorney's office have not followed those rules, Randall wrote, and she recommended commissioners pass a resolution authorizing payments expected to exceed $25,000 in fiscal year 2023.
Her report identifies about $1.8 million spent between fiscal year 2020 and November of this year with four legal vendors: Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel; Dana Beltramo; J. Micah Guster III; and Tidwell & Izell. At least a portion of that spending is tied to ongoing litigation involving a former county sheriff's deputy, Daniel Wilkey.
"We don't hire outside counsel because we don't feel like doing the work in the county attorney's office or we ... just want to spread the wealth," Taylor said Wednesday at the meeting. "All of these cases where we've hired outside counsel is because of conflicts, and you all know that most of these expenses are Sheriff's Office related expenses."
Taylor told commissioners earlier this month that his office's spending on outside legal counsel has never come up during his 29 years as county attorney.
Taylor's contract with the county states he "may employ such assistants and special counsel as necessary, subject to budget availability, in order to perform the duties of the legal department."
Commissioner Lee Helton, R-East Brainerd, said Wednesday he understood the county has done it that way in the past.
"But we didn't see fit to entrust any other department to spend more than $25,000 without our approval," Helton said. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander."
Some members of the panel also defended the county attorney office's purchasing practices, noting that Hamilton County's outside legal expenses can be more complicated than, for example, installing a new roof.
"I think sometimes when you get attorneys to help you with something, it's like a river that's unexplored," Commissioner Greg Martin, R-Hixson, said. "You don't know exactly where it's going and how long it's going to take. It's not a commodity that you purchase like a roof or a tractor or something like that, but it's a service that may go all different directions, and so it's a little harder I think to nail down exactly what it's going to be."
During closed legal meetings, the county attorney already keeps commissioners informed about ongoing lawsuits, Martin said.
Commissioner Steve Highlander, R-Ooltewah, said the commission needs to be kept in the loop about projected legal expenses, but there also needs to be some leeway.
"Lawyers are like doctors," he added. "You have a doctor that's a heart specialist, one that's a brain specialist and whatever. Lawyers are the same way. ... Most lawyers have certain expertise -- some are general law -- but I agree we need more formality."
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / County Mayor Weston Wamp, right, addresses the commission while County Attorney Rheubin Taylor listens Nov. 18.