In light of the letter from Bert Oram that questions whether then asst. city attorney Rusty Wells did work for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office while also being paid by the City of Pensacola, the Pensacola City Council should appoint an independent counsel to review Rusty Wells work history with the City.
Oram’s allegations are serious. They question the very character of the person the council wants to be its top legal advocate. We can’t just wink and overlook this.
Was Rusty Wells working for the Sheriff during regular office hours with the City? Did he take vacation time to do so? Did he pay another city employee to help him with his ECSO work? Was he doing more than forfeiture cases?
Surely, Oram isn’t the only local attorney who has interfaced with Wells on legal matters regarding the ECSO. Why hasn’t the local bar association stepped in and also questioned the ethics of an attorney being paid by two entities for the same time?
We have all sorts of issues of trust in regards to local government. How can we trust our city government if the head of the legal department has misstated his employment and been paid by the taxpayers while actually working for the ECSO?
This needs to be resolved by the city council, and possibly the local bar association, before the City signs an employment agreement with Rusty Wells.