Huffer Carroll County Council members put $6,000 in the 2010 budget to enable them to contract with a different attorney than the one commissioners use who also represents such entities as the county drainage board, the local school corporation and the county redevelopment commission. Council members agreed it was desirable for the financial body of county government to have independent representation to avoid conflict of interest issues.

“We’ve had quite a bit of turmoil in the past four years in the council,” council president Ann Brown said at the Tuesday morning meeting. “We have avoided a near-financial disaster, but we are now on track.”

Brown said spending money for the position was justified because council positions are part-time and members are not attorneys. She said she “spent countless hours just on legalese” in the past two years in an effort to understand the ramifications of ever-changing state property tax and income tax issues.

The council appointed Carl Abbott and Nancy Cripe, who has experience working part-time in the law office of Obear, Overholser, Huffer and Rider, to solicit interested attorneys, review resumes and recommend a course of action.

Cripe reported that she and Abbott contacted five attorneys and received three resumes. She presented two possible employment agreements, one currently in use in Carroll County and the other based on one used by a government entity in Tippecanoe County. She suggested council members chose one or a combination of both as a boilerplate agreement.

Council members worked from resumes and asked no questions from the two candidates present at the meeting. Attorneys Abigail A. Huffer and Nick McLeland made brief statements prior to the vote.

Cripe led the hiring process and recommended Huffer for the position. She said in a follow-up interview that because Huffer works in the same law firm, she has personal knowledge of her abilities.

“Abigail has had some experience in Lafayette,” Cripe said. “I’ve seen her work and I like her work ethic.”

The council chose Huffer, the daughter of local attorney Jim Huffer and niece of county council member Marion Huffer, to represent them in 2010. Council member Ron Slavens voted against the action. Council member Huffer recused himself from the hiring process and abstained from the vote.

In a follow-up interview, Slavens said he was concerned about the younger Huffer’s availability to fully serve the council.

“I noticed on her resume that she still works in Indianapolis,” Slavens explained. “I was concerned whether she would have the time and accessibility for the council’s needs.”

Huffer’s resume indicates she has worked at the local law firm with her father since July and at the WestPoint Financial Group since March. She served as a law clerk in the South Bend Legal Department from August to December 2007 and graduated from the Valparaiso University School of Law in December 2008. She has been a member of the Indiana Bar Association since 2009.

“I’m familiar with almost everyone on the council from growing up here,” attorney Huffer commented.

“This is just a matter of doing the right thing and doing it at the right time,” Brown said.

“I think it is critical that we hire someone who becomes a part of this,” Jerry Hendress added. “This is just the next step for us in order to take it to the next level.”