Danny Federico
reporter3.riverbendnews@gmail.com
The Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners officially welcomed Adam Morrison of Sellers, Taylor and Morrison, P.A. to the board at the start of its regular meeting on Tuesday, May 2. Commissioner Travis Land immediately made the motion on the first item on the agenda, and it was quickly seconded by Commissioner Leo Mobley. Subsequently, the board unanimously approved the execution of a contract for legal services with the law firm. Following the vote, Commissioner Don Hale spoke up, asking Morrison and County Administrator Greg Scott if there had been any discussion concerning the job transition with former county attorney Jimmy Prevatt.
“Basically, the way the transition would work – my opinion is – is if Mr. Prevatt needed to wrap anything up or could wrap up anything quickly, he can go ahead and do that,” Scott said. “Moving forward, after tonight, then Mr. Morrison will coordinate with him on wrapping up what he needs to, getting information he needs from Mr. Prevatt, and then the two of them will be coordinating how we proceed.”
Morrison then spoke up, requesting the commissioners aid him in the transition process, as well. “Quite frankly, I don't know what I don't know in terms of what has been going on or what some of the legal processes have been or what may be pending or behind,” he said. Morrison then proceeded to inform the board how Scott had asked Prevatt to prepare a list of things still needing to be taken care of or pushed forward. “If there's any in- particular items that you all have of 'this is something that we're waiting on or looking for,' you can either send that directly to me or send it directly to Mr. Scott.” In order to make his transition meeting with Prevatt go as productively as possible, Morrison also requested the board supply him with such items sooner than later, so he could go into the meeting with an itemized list of things needing to be done.
Commissioner Land then asked if there was a set fee for Prevatt's time during the transition period, as the board is out of contract with him now. Morrison stated they had not discussed it, but he assumed Prevatt would continue on with the hourly rate with the county. “It'll be an hourly rate,” County Administrator Scott said. “From the conversation Mr. Prevatt and I had, it'd be different than what it was before when he was under contract with the county. In the contract you have with Mr. Morrison, at his discretion, he will keep us posted on bringing another attorney in if he needs to. Same way with this situation. Mr. Morrison will be the point of contact to coordinate with Mr. Prevatt to see if he wanted to assign him either task he's working on now, or take that and run with it on his own.”
Later in the meeting, during the section outlined for items of business from the county attorney, Morrison reiterated his request for the itemized list of things the commissioners were hoping to get updates on. He also asked that the board and county staff communicate their ideas to him on where they think changes could be made in how things are done in his department. “Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn't mean it has to be done that way,” Morrison said. “So, in the absence of a statute or a rule which requires something, I'm certainly open to changing how things have been done in the past vis-a-vis the County Attorney and what I'll be doing. I also have no pride in ownership, so if you have an idea that can make something better, please tell me and I'll be happy to give you credit.” He ended his comments by making the final request for the commissioners and county administration to let him know if he does something wrong or if he needs to change the way he does something. “I'm going to do the best I can, and I'm going to ask you all to help me do the best I can.”
A second Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners meeting was held on Tuesday, May 16. Be sure to pick up the Wednesday, May 24, edition of the Riverbend News for coverage of this meeting.