PRINCETON — The county’s fiscal body will advertise an amended Economic Development Income Tax budget to allow for $140,000 in additional funds for legal fees associated with the county’s study of proposed zoning.
County Council members agreed the money should come from the EDIT fund, but stipulated they want a full accounting of the legal fees associated with zoning work from the beginning of the study in 2017-18.
“We’ve been put in a situation where it seems it’s just an open checkbook,” Council Vice President Craig Pflug said.
Gibson County Commissioners voted in January to reactivate the Gibson County Advisory Plan Commission’s work to study zoning after public concerns about how proposed wind turbines would affect the county’s Doppler radar.
At budget workshops last summer, commissioners budgeted about $75,000 for legal fees in 2020, with two pending federal lawsuits against the county. Commissioner Mary Key said the legal fees for zoning exploration were not anticipated at that time.
Pflug said the council realizes the work of the APC re-started in January, “but we were never informed as to, do we have a budget to work with and all that…”
“…All we’re seeing is bills. They never came and asked for it, they just started spending money,” said Councilman Derek McGraw.
Key said that at the time the budget was set, commissioners believed they had sufficiently planned for legal expenses. She said the county has been involved in outside lawsuits and a lot of funds have been used for those costs.
Council President Jay Riley said that even taking those additional costs into account, commissioners are still approximately $140,000 short.
Key, who serves on the APC, said the request for $140,00 includes the amount that should be the completion of the APC’s legal work. “Unfortunately, money that was in the budget to cover at least hopefully, the majority of this, has gone to the other things.”
County Councilman Mike Stilwell, who also serves on the APC, said the zoning exploration wasn’t on the agenda when the budget was developed. “This is something that popped up after the fact,” he said, but reiterated that the council believes commissioners should have come to them before the money was obligated.
“The biggest issue is the fact that we didn’t know what to expect,” said Pflug. “And I don’t think any of us expected it to be at this amount.”
“To be honest, I didn’t expect it to be this extent,” Key told him.
“We were informed, we knew it was going on,” Pflug said, but told Key that it was a shock to see the request for additional legal fees. “That’s being blindsided. I have to take some blame because I didn’t ask four months ago, ‘What’s this going to cost?’ It’s one of these things we need to do better in the future.”
Pflug offered a second to Mike Stilwell’s motion to pay the funds from the EDIT revenue, but added the stipulation: “In the future, any money spent must be approved first,” noting that the future is uncertain with funding. “You’ve put us in a very difficult situation.”
“I can’t vote on it until I an see an accounting beginning to end, front to back,” Councilman Jeremy Overton said. “It’s over and done, but I’d also like to know an estimate of what they think it might cost.”
Council members estimated about $180,000 was spent in the first round of zoning exploration in 2017-18. Overton said he would like to see an accounting, beginning to end, of the cost of legal fees for the APC. “Whether it hurts or not, we need to see it on paper,” he said.
Kay Vore, the executive assistant to commissioners, presented the request for the legal fees on behalf of commissioners before the council asked to speak to one of the commissioners. Vore said the contract for legal services for zoning legal work with Kahn Dees Donovan & Kahn is the same contract commissioners approved in the first round of APC work.
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