Okaloosa County Commissioners have approved the hiring of an additional county attorney and a paralegal.
The move marks the board’s first step in its long-term plan of setting up a full county legal department.
“We are currently drafting job descriptions, a draft for a paralegal and a draft for an attorney,” said Kay Godwin, human resources director for Okaloosa County. “It’s a work in progress.”
Under the plan, multiple county attorneys and paralegals would be hired to handle the county’s legal representation. John Dowd, the current county attorney, eventually would be transitioned into a position of a senior staff attorney.
County Commissioner Nathan Boyles said Okaloosa County has grown into a county that needs the coverage of an entire legal department.
“The truth is we’re just not the same county we were 40 years ago,” he said.
Boyles, who has been working on the plan with county staff, said the process will take time.
“You don’t build a law firm overnight, and you don’t build a legal department overnight,” he said. “I think we want to ease into it over several budget cycles.”
Boyles said the county will be looking for attorneys with some experience in municipal and county law.
“We’ll be looking for folks who are good quality, all-around attorneys who can kind of become experts on Okaloosa County,” he said.
An in-house legal department will allow the county to “pull back substantially from the use of outside counsel,” Boyles added.
Since 2008, the county has spent about $200,000 a year on in-house legal services and about $600,000 on outside counsel.
“We get good service for the money we pay, but we have less control and less direct access to those (outside) attorneys,” Boyles said.
A full in-house legal department will be a more cost-effective choice for the county in the long term, he said.
County commissioners will sign off on the job descriptions and salaries in the coming weeks.
Boyles said he hopes the county can finalize the hiring of the two positions by October, when the 2013-14 budget is approved.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.