By Marvin G. Cortner

Editor

The Osceola County Commission in a special meeting today reviewed five individuals for the county attorney job but deferred picking a top candidate until Monday's meeting when it will further discuss how to ultimately fill the position – with an individual or through a legal firm.

The individual candidates in no order of priority and the location where they currently work, are: Celeste Adorno, Tallahassee; Vasilis Katsafanas, Orlando; Andrew W. Mai, Miami; James L. Richmond, Tallahassee; and Aleksandr Boksner, Miami Beach.

Candidates this morning had one-on-one interviews with commissioners. In the afternoon, the commission convened in a public forum starting at 2 p.m. to interview all candidates. If the commission chooses to go with an individual attorney, a contract would then be negotiated with the top candidate.

The commission currently also is looking at legal firms to which county legal work could be outsourced or to serve as the county attorney firm following the recent downsizing of the county attorney's office. A top firm has not been selected, however.

Five firms provided letters of interest. Those firms, according to the county procurement office, are: Brown, Garganese, Weiss,  & D’Agresta; Bryant Miller Olive; Fowler, O’ Quinn, Feeney & Sneed; Kaufman, Englett & Lynn; and Pennington, Moore, Wilkinson, Bell & Dunbar. Board approval of a contract with a new county attorney is scheduled for Monday, June 13, with a targeted start day between June 20 and June 30.