By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                A career state prosecutor selected by Levy County Commissioners to work as their future county attorney doesn’t want the job.

                Assistant State Attorney Glenn Bryan applied for the position and was interviewed by the board two weeks ago but turned down an offer for an annual salary of $120,000.

            County Coordinator Wilbur Dean said Nabors, Giblin, and Nickerson, a Tallahassee law firm that acts as a consultant to the board will step in to advise commissioners while they search for another attorney.

            Commissioner Mike Joyner, a career law enforcement officer before being elected to public office said he talked to Bryan and found out why he didn’t want the job.

            “His reason for not taking the job had nothing to do with this county. He said, I don’t think I would be satisfied with this kind of job. I love prosecuting, nothing else. The salary was fine, the job description was fine.”

            Retiring County Attorney Anne Bast Brown said she will meet with representatives of Nabors, Giblin, and Nickerson this week to discuss legal projects and issues they may need to address after she leaves on June 30.

            Brown gave the county more than two months of notice she would be retiring on June 30, but when the county advertised the position only two applicants responded, one of them Bryan.

            Commissioners seemed a bit wary Tuesday of jumping into another round of advertising after getting such a weak response on the first go around and suggested they might want to wait a while before advertising again.

            Brown said she hadn’t heard anything about waiting a while to advertise. She thought they were going to “hit the ground running.”

            Ultimately, Dean said he felt he had been given board direction and he would immediately advertise the position, but if they can’t find someone to replace Brown, the board could hire a local law firm to serve as the legal advisor when Nabors, Giblin, and Nickerson is no longer needed.

            The loss of Bryan as the future county attorney places the board in a less than perfect position of having to use a Tallahassee law firm as the interim legal advisor in place of a county attorney while they continue their search for Brown’s replacement.

            Nabors, Giblin, and Nickerson handle this type of work for other counties, Dean said, and the firm will be making money while serving as the interim legal advisor. The county commission approved an agreement with the company to compensate them for their legal services.

            Meanwhile, the county will give Brown a going away party this Friday in the cafeteria of the Levy County Government Center.

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Board of County Commission Regular Meeting June 22, 2021; Posted June 22, 2021