The Forsyth County Commission will decide Thursday night whether to give one of Forsyth’s most prominent attorneys a one-year contract as hearing officer for the Civil Service Board at a rate of $260 an hour.
The decision appears simple. Dana Miles has been hearing officer for a decade and an affirmative vote will for the first time make his appointment effective for a year at a time.
But the decision is more complicated, said two commissioners, because Miles’ compensation is $85 more an hour that Forsyth pays County Attorney Ken Jarrard. Miles also works as an attorney for the City of Cumming, which could be construed as a conflict of interest.
In 2008 Miles represented Cumming when it sued Forsyth County for a bigger share of revenue from Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) VI and won a concession: Forsyth gave Cumming $10 million dollars towards the building of its Aquatic Center, which opens this spring.
The commission already postponed the decision once, during its February 17 meeting. District 3 Commissioner Todd Levent, who made the motion, said afterward the Miles’ decision was “something that we need to give a lot of thought to.”
Levent said this week he likely will side Thursday night with District 5 Commissioner Jim Boff in opposing a one-year contract for Miles. Levent said he favors appointing Miles for a shorter term so the county could then put the job up for bid, as it does other county contracts.
“Do I think there is a conflict [in Miles working for the City of Cumming and the Forsyth County]?” said Levent. “Possibly. But I’m not an attorney and I can’t determine that.”
Miles, who was paid less than $30,000 last year for his Civil Service Board work, did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this story. Paula Frederick, an attorney with the State Bar of Georgia and expert on conflict of interest, declined to comment specifically on Miles’ situation.
She said, however, the State Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct gives attorneys wide latitude in determining if they have a conflict of interest between clients. According to those guidelines a lawyer “shall not represent or continue to represent a client if there is a significant risk that the lawyer's own interests or the lawyer's duties to another client, a former client, or a third person will materially and adversely affect the representation of the client.”
District 4 Commissioner Patrick Bell, who, before he was a commissioner, supported the City of Cumming’s 2008 lawsuit against Forsyth county over SPLOST funds, said this week he sees no reason to refuse Miles a year contract.
“He represents Forsyth county on personnel matters that have nothing to do with the City of Cumming or SPLOST,” said Bell. “And people who have indicated $260 an hour is too much money obviously haven’t tried to hire an attorney recently. The going rate is $300 or $400 an hour.”
Attorney Joseph A. Homans, general counsel for nearby Dawson County, said he researched compensation rates counties pay attorney across the state a few years ago and they ranged from about $140 an hour to as high as $280.
Jarrard, the county attorney, declined to comment except to say he has not raised his rate of $175 an hour in the last decade. Last year Forsyth paid Jarrard's firm $1.3 million, including about $230,000 directly to him.
Boff has been Miles’ most vocal critic. Boff said this week he believes Miles' work for the City of Cumming is a conflict, his performance as a hearing officer has been questionable and his $260 hourly rate is too high.
“The Civil Service Board doesn’t even require that a hearing officer be an attorney,” said Boff. “Since we don’t even have to have a lawyer for that job, why are we hiring an expensive one? Can’t we get a stellar citizen to do that for a lot less than $260 an hour?”
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