Comments on: City hires full-time attorney

By: Hen-a-sun Welcome Wagon

Hen-a-sun Welcome Wagon — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 15:50:07 +0000

PTC Wife, According to the NC Bar Association website, Mr. Billy Joel Strickland II passed the bar exam in 2005.

As a new attorney, he must depend on fellow members of the NCBA for professional and developmental guidance and mentoring, so to assume that Mr. Strickland will exist in some type of city hall “air bubble” without socializing with other area attorneys is ridiculous.

His hardest job (assuming he is not a useless yes-man) will be to convince Yount, Harper and Moss that HE is the attorney and his word should be gospel in CITY LEGAL MATTERS.

I just hope he gets a fair chance, as expectations may be unreasonable due to his $86,000 salary.

By: Purer Than Caesar's Wife

Purer Than Caesar's Wife — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:30:41 +0000

Hen-a-sun,

I think that it is appropriate for the public to have high integrity requirement for an attorney who is supposed to be OUR full-time champion especially in Henderson.,

You seem to forget that our local attorneys legally closed all those Donald Gupton mobile home deals that sent him to prison and the county to the poorhouse. You seem to forget we have all been betrayed by attorney Frank Ballance and his son the judge, Garry Ballance. I have never heard any of these lawyers admit wrong-doing and one of our local elected councilman even contributes to the Ballance defense fund.

Mr. Strickland should be very sensitive and cautious in choosing to “marry a scorned woman”.

By: Hen-a-sun Welcome Wagon

Hen-a-sun Welcome Wagon — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:27:35 +0000

Poor guy. He hasn’t even started this new job and folks want to dictate who his friends may be, which restaurants he can visit, and restrict his “next” job.

Welcome to Hen-a-sun Mr. Strickland!

By: Bert

Bert — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:43:39 +0000

Correction:
should read: “He does NOT need to be tempted ….”

By: Bert

Bert — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:41:57 +0000

I hope that the city put a 2-5 year “non-compete” clause in Billy’s contract for joining a law firm that practices within the Tri-County area. He does need to be tempted to do the David Waters thing and sell out by joining one of the local law firms when the money looks better on the other side.

By: MWS

MWS — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:47:18 +0000

According to the Dispatch this morning, Mr. Strickland’s annual salary will be $86,000.

By: Interesting

Interesting — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:36:47 +0000

Social-Lite – don’t hold your breath. I’ll bet Wildflower will be his favorite spot, and he will be “in like Flint.”

By: Moneyman

Moneyman — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:35:35 +0000

Pure,

You need to look a little closer before you get too excited about any potential cost savings for changing to a full-time staff attorney. I don’t believe the city has ever paid Mr. Zollicoffer more than the annual salary for the new attorney. Out of his pay I believe Mr. Zollicoffer had to provide his own office, computers/equipment, secretaries, disability insurance, retirement plan, and cover other office expenses. I assume our new city attorney will need a secretary along with office equipment, city insurance/disability/retirement, etc. in addition to his $86,000 salary. I am not saying having a staff attorney is a bad thing, but it does not appear to me that saving money will be one of the advantages.

By: Hen-a-sun Welcome Wagon

Hen-a-sun Welcome Wagon — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:16:46 +0000

Poor guy. He hasn’t even started work yet and folks already want to dictate who he hangs out with and where he dines! Welcome to Hen-a-sun Mr. Strickland. Rest assured, your future is all uphill.

By: Social-Llite

Social-Llite — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 01:26:09 +0000

Purer Than Caesar’s Wife,
I get your point. I am going to be very disappointed if I see our city attorney hanging out all the time in WildFlower with the local attorneys for more than business lunches. He is the city resident’s champion in legal matters — not just a neutral gun for hire. I’d like to see him eating at some of the soul food and local Mexican restaurants as well for business lunches. Bojangles and Hardees for morning biscuits are not a bad idea either.