HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-19-2001 Meeting
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LA VV STUDY
SUBCOMMITTEE
COMMITTEE ROOM - July 19,2001
10:00 A.M.
PRESENT: B. Young, Mayor, L. Beard, Chairman, S. Shepard, W. Mays, M. Williams,
members, A. Cheek, Commissioner, G. Kolb, Administrator, J. Wall, Attorney, V.
Flournoy, Staff Attorney, L. Bonner, Clerk of Commission.
MEDIA: H. Coryell, Augusta Chronicle, S. Eidson, Metro Spirit.
Update from the Human Resource Director regarding the candidates' pool for the
General Counsel position.
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Ms. Pelaez: We did do a great deal better this time in the advertising process
because we were given a greater length of time and were able to get into the Fulton
County Daily Reporter which is where we felt we would get the best publicity for this
particular position. The only issue that I suppose you could say what are the reasons why
no one would want to apply and it would have to be with the salary range. From what
we've looked at the salary is not out of line with what other individuals are making in the
area of municipal law. However, if you are trying to attract someone from corporate
America to come here then we have a problem because they are already making this
amount of money so is there really a good enticement. Those are the things that we
would have to consider either way. I think that we did get at least 2 solid candidates in
my opinion that we may want to speak with.
Discuss other options/alternatives for seeking applicants for General Counsel.
M. Beard: I would like to open this up for discussion because I think we have a
couple of options here, we can either go back out, we can interview or we can look at the
salary.
Mr. Young: I think we need to go back out and expand the search.
Mr. Williams: I would like to ask Vanessa what she thinks the problem is in
getting good applicants?
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Ms. Flournoy: As an attorney I think the salary is not adequate. The second thing
is that you are talking to a limited pool of people because you have to have someone who
is admitted to the State Bar of Georgia also someone who has municipal experience.
Traditionally in Georgia, county and city have used private funds. So if you were
looking at the individuals that would have the experience you would be talking about the
equivalent of Mr. Wall in another city. A lot of attorneys will not go from private
practice to municipal because of the salary. The only place you'll actually have someone
with some municipal government experience is probably in the Atlanta metro area or
Athens. I don't know if Savannah has an attorney, Macon has a city attorney. Most of
the time the department has a general counsel who is either making that salary or more
than what you're offering and the deputy or the assistant city attorney are usually,
especially in Atlanta are specialized. So you don't have the broad range of general
knowledge that you're seeking when you get someone out of the Atlanta area.
Mr. Mays: One thing you have to look at in this area too is an example of a
comfort zone in terms of people that would apply. Some ofthem can't get that until they
sit down with a body like ours and we say what is expected of this attorney. If they have
the experience and even though it may be in another city or county where they agree and
even disagree with the people on the board, if there is a comfort zone they are not
necessarily in the mood for taking on something else. Even if the salary is higher than
what they are making.
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Mr. Kolb: I have looked at the applicants and there was only one that really had
municipal experience and there were possibly a couple more who had some experience in
areas of municipal law. I don't believe that you have a significant pool here. I think that
should be aware that you're not just going to hire an attorney. You are really developing
a law firm within the municipality. You are going to have Vanessa, probably other
attorneys that are going to work for this person and it's going to be sensitive down the
road. Nevertheless I think you have 3 options, you can interview a couple of people from
here and see what you want to do. You can go back out and do it again as in-house
proceedings period. And third you could hire a headhunter. I did talk to Dick Bennett
yesterday and he submitted a proposal that is pretty much the standard package of how
the recruiting would be done and the charge is $22,000.
Mr. Wall: I have an interest because whoever this person is presumably I'll have
to work with them for a minimum of 14-16 months. So I want to be sure that the person
is capable, qualified and a good attorney. I said at the outset that it would take 2 years to
get somebody up to speed. I said that because of what you're finding. There are not that
many attorneys that are in a municipal practice. Like Vanessa said most of the
communities around the state have outside counsel. And municipal law is a part of their
practice or a part of their firm practice. I don't think that you're going to attract those
private attorneys to a municipal position unless they are that lawyer who has decided that
he wants to slow down for whatever reason, whether it is health, age or whatever. Do
you want to build your law department around that type individual, or do you want to
build the law department around people who you can expect to be there for 10, 15, 20
years and work into the process. What you have been advertising for is someone who
can come in and be general counsel and have expertise in all areas. I think you're going
to have a hard time finding that person at the outset. And the reason I said it would take
2 years is because I think you have to bring a person in just like Vanessa, Vanessa did not
have municipal experience, but she had other experience that she can build on.
Realistically, that's what you'll have to do. I think you're looking for a person that
there's not many out there and I think if you need to narrow down what you expect that
person to be. I think you can hire an attorney that can be trained and that can develop and
that's one option. Or you can go out and keep looking for that person who has lots of
years of municipal experience and you may find him or her. But I think that's going to
be a rare situation and you may want to go back and look at what I suggested originally
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and that is, get some people and train them in specific areas, let them develop over a
period of time.
Mr. Shepard: It occurred to me that in the Fulton County Daily Report there are
several brokers that advertise regularly in the area of law placement who specialize in it.
And before we jump with one placement firm I would like to hear what some of these
specialist in attorney placement would be willing to quote us before we went with any
headhunter firm. I would hope that we could look maybe today at contacting a specialist
in attorney placement and maybe come back with a quote if Brenda and George could do
that in the interim and maybe we make a quick decision amongst headhunter firms. They
would have people listed with them and they could direct us maybe down the right path
and I would like to compare one of their quotes to what Dick is quoting us. I would
make the motion that we task the HR Director and the Administrator and include
the city attorney in this to seek quotes from legal headhunter recruitment specialist
and have them bring that back to us at our next meeting prior to the Commission
meeting on August 7 at 1 :00.
Mr. Young: Second.
Motion carried unanimously.
ADJOURNMENT: With no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned.
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Lena J. Bonner
Clerk of Commission
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