In connection with the vacant county attorney position, the commissioners made a decision to fill the position not with a law firm but with an individual attorney who would then be able to secure additional help as needed on contract for work on cases. At the Jan. 24 meeting, the commissioners ranked applications from individual attorneys, and those rankings were tabulated to choose seven attorneys to proceed to the interview process.
County Commission Chairman Scott Brannon did not participate in reviewing or ranking applications. In response to a citizen’s concerns, he had sought an opinion from the Florida Commission on Ethics as to whether he should participate. This was due to his personal attorneys, the Adkinson Firm, being one of the firms applying for the position.
Kisela said Brannon had just received the opinion the day of the meeting and was reviewing it.
The commissioners opted to arrange interviews with the seven attorneys who received multiple votes in their ranking. These include, John Bruhn, Joni Craig, Jennifer Schuler, Aleksandr Boksner, Ken Goldberg, Rene Youell, and Mike Burns. The commissioners plan to interview the candidates initially on a one-on-one basis, individually.