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GREENSBORO — The contract has not been completely hammered out, but Guilford County Commissioners have added $250,000 to the county attorney’s budget for 2009-10 to hire an outside firm for legal assistance.

About $100,000 of that will pay for the firm hired to represent the county, said Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston .

The vote to hire the firm Nexsen Pruett was 10-1, with Commissioner Paul Gibson voting no. It’s the first time the county has chosen a firm for its legal work.

“This is very common,” said County Manager Brenda Jones Fox . “The city of High Point operates like this. Mecklenburg (County) operates like this.”

The large staff of a firm would offer versatility to handle cases that an individual staff attorney may not be able to, Fox said.

Gibson said he opposed the expenditure because he thought former county attorney Sharron Kurtz was doing fine but “we ran her off.” He also said he still had some questions about the law firm Nexsen Pruett.

Gibson said he’s not against hiring an outside firm. Applicants to be the next county attorney were few, he said.

“The word on the street is out there: Don’t go work for Guilford County,” he said.

After Kurtz resigned in December, the county had a hard time keeping a county attorney onboard. The county nearly signed a contract with an outside firm before the firm withdrew from consideration, citing a “conflict of interest.” Then two interim county attorneys left within two months of each other.

Finally, the county pulled Matt Mason from the sheriff’s office to fill in. “(Mason) is marvelous to work with,” Fox said. “I wish I could clone him.”

Even after deciding to hire Nexsen Pruett, it’s unclear how much the firm will be paid.

Fox said the $250,000 added to the county attorney’s budget would be for legal services, but she couldn’t say how much would be for the firm’s contract. Alston said about $100,000 would go to the firm.

Gibson said that the entire $250,000 would cover the contract for a year but that he expects the contract to be shorter than that.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com