School district considers hiring a full-time lawyer

BROOKSVILLE -- As she looks for ways to trim costs, Hernando County school superintendent Wendy Tellone is considering one change that would alter the way the school district has done business since the Depression era.

Tellone says it may be in the school district's best interest -- legally and financially -- to hire a full-time lawyer.

The board has relied on part-time lawyers since at least as far back as the 1930s, according to Joe Johnston Jr., who was the board's attorney for 40 years starting in 1953.

Karen Gaffney, who took over for Johnston in 1993, is now in her eighth year as the board's attorney. By and large, school district officials say they are pleased with her services. It's just that Tellone wonders -- and board members are willing to allow her to explore -- whether the district could get more attorney hours at a lower cost if there was a lawyer on the payroll.

Over the past four years, Gaffney has averaged $94,900 a year in School Board fees. She did considerably better last year -- $119,212 -- and is on pace to top that again this year. Twice in the past four years she has been paid more money than the superintendent.

Reviewing the School Board attorney's role is part of Tellone's larger concern about the school district's reliance on part-time consultants as opposed to full-time workers. Since she took office in September, Tellone has asked her staff to review how part-time workers are used for everything from painting schools to programming computers.

While hiring contract workers has been a popular way to avoid the cost of health insurance and other benefits paid to full-time workers, Tellone says the district may have become overreliant on part-timers. So much so that she says it might cost less to pay asalary and benefits than a consultant's fee.

And in the case of the attorney, Tellone worries the district might be better served by a lawyer who doesn't charge by the hour. She fears that they might hold back from seeking some timely advice and avoiding a lawsuit, something that could cost the district more in the long run.

Currently, Gaffney is paid $5,000 a month for the first 50 hours she works that month. Beyond that, she gets $125 an hour. She gets an additional percentage for reviewing the legalese involved in bond issues, which routinely are multimillion-dollar items.

Typically, her work involves offering legal advice on personnel matters and student expulsion cases and reviewing contracts with everyone from school architects to companies that provide interpreters for the deaf. Above all, her job includes helping the board avoid lawsuits or fight them off when they arise.

Gaffney, who maintains a private practice in Inverness that primarily serves businesses, isn't sure if she would want to take on the role of full-time board attorney. "I really don't know," she said. "I really haven't had an opportunity to give it a lot of thought."

Gaffney said she understands the superintendent's interest in saving money. But she said the School Board would spend much more money with a full-time attorney than it currently pays for her services.

"I have 2 1/2 full-time secretaries and I pay my costs for phone, fax and research," she said. "It is not as simple as hiring an attorney. Really you're hiring an attorney's office."

Still, Tellone is concerned about the fact that Gaffney's fees have cost the district more than $12,000 a month during the past four months. While it was a period where Gaffney was heavily involved in a sexual harassment investigation and an issue regarding an employee's termination, Tellone says those types of interview-intensive investigations may grow more common in these litigation-happy times.

"I don't see that changing," Tellone said.

At the least, Tellone wants greater accountability for the board's attorney than was demanded by former superintendent John Sanders.

Under her contract, Gaffney is supposed to spend 12 hours a week in the district office, generally Tuesdays and Thursdays.

But Gaffney says Sanders urged her to call the district office to see if her services were actually needed before coming in on those days. The idea is simple: It helps reduce the amount of time Gaffney charges the district beyond her 50-hour base each month.

It is a practice that Gaffney has continued during the first three months of Tellone's tenure.

As a result, Gaffney has come into the office on eight of her 23 scheduled office days. In each case, her billing record shows some notation of what she did on the school district's behalf from her Inverness office.

The notations include references to research on pending legal claims, interviewing witnesses about a sexual harassment complaint in the school transportation department and "miscellaneous small matters."

More vague is her account of what she did on nine of the 23 days she came into the district office during the past three months. On those days, Gaffney's account of her time includes only "Attend Office Hours" under the description of her activities.

There's no clear indication of what she did.

In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Gaffney said she spent those days meeting with staffers and board members, reviewing contracts or legal documents, or reviewing expulsion cases, personnel matters or legal issues.

Gaffney said Sanders "was a little more relaxed" when it came to her billing procedures than Tellone. But Gaffney said she understands Tellone's need to watch costs given the district's budget crunch.

Practices vary in other school districts.

Citrus County still uses a part-time attorney. Pasco County doesn't keep an attorney under its roof, but for $91,000 a year it has bought full-time access to Dade City attorney and former School Board member Joseph McLain, plus the three lawyers in his firm during his absences.

As county government goes, the Hernando County Commission recently decided to hire a full-time attorney after Bruce Snow had served them in a part-time role for 27 years. Discussion about a full-time attorney for the School Board cropped up in 1993 before Gaffney was hired. But nothing came of it.

Board member Gail Coleman said she doesn't know what will come from Tellone's efforts. But she said she's pleased Tellone is willing to consider a new approach. "I have to hand it to her that she is taking a look at some of the issues that haven't been examined in a few years," Coleman said.

Johnston, who still has a law practice in Hernando County, said Alvin Coogler was the School Board's part-time attorney for 20 years before he took the job. Back then, a small county population meant less legal action, attorneys were hard to find and the board lacked money for full-time lawyers, Johnston said.

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