While Fayette County may not have an in-house attorney for another 60 days, the county Thursday night insured it will have a legal opinion until the hiring is completed.

Interim administrator Jack Krakeel announced that Peachtree City resident Don Comer had agreed to serve the county on an interim basis. Comer, who was Clayton County’s lead in-house attorney for more than 20 years, had recently retired from the adjacent county and had started his own practice in Peachtree City, Krakeel said. Comer will be paid $150 an hour.

Comer is no stranger to Fayette County government. County Executive Assistant Carol Chandler said former County Attorney Bill McNally had farmed out some work to him, and Comer appeared before the Fayette County Commission in June 2002.

At that time, Comer was representing Joan Busey who wanted to rezone 148 acres on Helmer Road from AR to R-40 to develop a subdivision with 102 homes. The rezoning passed the County Commission unanimously.

Comer was announced after Commissioner Peter Pfeifer objected to going into an executive session without an attorney present. The hiring of the in-house attorney was also the subject of a lengthy discussion during the board’s retreat at Callaway Gardens Aug. 8.

The discussion, led by Commissioner Eric Maxwell, laid out the qualifications for the attorney.

“The primary focus should be on planning and zoning,” Maxwell said. Most of the litigation would probably be handled by an outside law firm, and the attorney’s compensation would be outside the county’s regular pay and classification system.

Maxwell also favored keeping the process as politics-free as possible and suggested a committee be formed to help narrow the pool of applicants to three to five finalists.

The County Commission decided the committee would feature Sheriff Randall Johnson, Pete Frisina from the planning department, Connie Boehnke from human resources, Tony Parrott from the water department, a member from the tax assessor’s office, Interim Administrator Jack Krakeel and Executive Assistant Carol Chandler.

“It’s important for us to remain neutral,” said Commission Chairman Jack Smith.

Smith was not sure the sheriff should be on the committee, but Maxwell said it would send a good sign to the sheriff’s department.

“The sheriff has been disenfranchised the last few years,” he said.

The process could take up to 60 days, said Krakeel.