Augusta has a new interim general counsel starting next month, but he’s not a stranger to city government.
The commission voted Thursday, just ahead of a work session about the Augusta Land Bank, to employ James T. Plunkett as interim general counsel.
The job is part of an “interim legal service transition plan,” according to the motion.
Details of the plan were not immediately available.
After the closed session, for which The Augusta Press received no formal notice, Commissioner Tony Lewis asked to postpone the hire, and extend current General Counsel Wayne Brown’s transition-out period from two weeks to four, ending Sept. 13.
Lewis’ ask passed 6-2, with Commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight and Mayor Garnett Johnson voting no.
Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Garrett and commissioners Bobby Williams and Alvin Mason were absent from the special called meeting.
Brown, who had been with the Augusta Law Department since 2008, resigned in May, effective this month.
He is expected to receive a severance package of about six months of his $185,000-plus annual salary plus benefits.
Plunkett and his law firms have been associated with the city for many years. They’ve been go-to outside counsel in litigation and bond issues.
A 2003 proposal for city work says Plunkett attended Westside High School and Augusta College before transferring to the University of Georgia and graduating, cum laude, from UGA School of Law in 1987.
Last year, his name surfaced as chairman of the political action committee Moving Augusta Forward, Inc. The group has raised heavily from local business interests.
