Senate approves bill allowing counties to hire private attorneys

A bill allowing the Salt Lake County Council to skirt District Attorney David Yocom's advice and hire their own attorney passed the Senate Wednesday.

SB249, sponsored by Sen. Darin Peterson, R-Nephi, allows counties with an executive-council form of government — namely Salt Lake County — to hire its own private attorneys instead of relying solely on legal advice from the district attorney's office.

The bill is intended to give the Salt Lake County Council the power to hire its own attorney to help draft ordinances and deal with other issues. The attorney would serve "at the pleasure of the county legislative" body and could not perform any duties typically reserved for the county or district attorney, according to the bill.

Citing "partisan warts and wrinkles" and "tensions with legal advice" over the past several years, the council wants to hire Karl Hendrickson, Yocom's former chief civil deputy, at a salary of $120,000 per year.

Yocom said he is miffed the council wants to hire someone to do the work he was elected by the people to do. But Councilman Michael Jensen said the council might not even hire a private attorney. The council asked for the legislation just so it has the option of hiring one if needed.

Sen. Dave Thomas, R-South Weber, voted against the bill, saying as a county attorney himself he recognized there were times when elected officials wanted to hear different advice.

Several other county attorneys have spoken out against the bill, saying it would trip statutory powers from elected county attorneys. The bill would also create a distrust and communication gap between councils and county attorneys, Wasatch County Attorney Thomas Lowe said.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said he supported the bill because "this is very similar to the situation we have in the Legislature." Lawmakers, he said, don't rely on the Attorney General's Office for advice, instead turning to their own, independent counsel. "If it's good enough for the Legislature, it's good enough for councils," Stephenson said.

Council Chairman Cort Ashton said the council is pushing several alternatives to solving the problems between Yocom's office and the council, including the legislation.

The bill now moves to the House.

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Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche.

E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com