Columbus Council to vote on how to repay legal fees

More than four months after a Superior Court judge ruled the city of Columbus must pay the legal fees of Muscogee County Sheriff John Darr and Clerk of Superior Court Linda Pierce, Columbus Council will consider four ordinances on Tuesday to pay almost $400,000 in legal fees the elected officials have incurred in a legal battle over their budgets.

The 10-member council will be asked to amend the fiscal 2015 budget that ended on June 30 to add a total of $364,784 to pay certain legal fees and expenses provided to the officials, including $207,613.85 for Darr and $157,171 for Pierce in their lawsuits. The fiscal 2016 budget, which ends on June 30, 2016, will be amended to show an additional $25,196.84 for Darr.

All told, the latest expenses total $389,980 for the two city officials. The city's tab for expenses in defending the case is almost $500,000.

Council's approval of the fees and expenses is sought after Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller of Stone Mountain, Ga., ruled April 23 that the city must pay legal expenses for both elected officials from the city's general fund and not from their budgets. Fuller was appointed to hear the cases because local judges recused themselves.

Four ordinances must be approved to pay all the expenses. It takes six votes from council to approve each request.

After getting approval for the payments, the ordinance states that council will create a method for such payments to comply with orders from the court. Payments will be drawn from the Claims and Judgments Assigned Fund Balance, according to the ordinance.

Neither Darr nor Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson were available for comment on Saturday.

This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 10:12 PM with the headline "Columbus Council to vote on how to repay legal fees."