Five local lawyers have applied to take up the mantle of Indian River Shores Town Attorney as the town’s longtime legal counsel Chester Clem retires after more than 40-plus years of service.
Last week the town council delegated the search and negotiation of terms to Town Manager Jim Harpring, an attorney with decades of experience and knowledge of the area’s legal talent. So far, the candidates who have shown interest are Paul Amos, Warren Dill, Ashley Novander, Jennifer Peschke and Pete Sweeney.
“I know it will be difficult to replace Chester Clem. However, we are fortunate to have excellent candidates from which to choose,” Harpring said on Friday.
Harpring said the position is part-time as needed, not a full-time governmental attorney job, so the person the town hires must have an established law practice or other source of income.
In that law practice, the new town attorney must also avoid anything approaching a conflict of interest with matters the town may be a party to, especially matters involving zoning appeals.
If the attorney works within a partnership or firm, the whole firm must be free of conflicts.
Paul Amos is a partner with the Vero Beach firm of Rossway Swan Tierney Barry and Oliver. A Vero Beach native, Amos attended St. Edward’s School, graduated from Vero Beach High School and then went on to Florida State University and Nova Southeastern University’s Sheppard Broad Law School.
An attorney with 25 years of experience including eight years as an assistant state attorney, Amos frequently represents legislatively created districts, including the Sebastian Improvement District, the Indian River County Mosquito Control District, and the St. Johns River Water Management District.
Warren Dill, founding partner of Dill, Evans and Rhodeback in Sebastian, comes to the table with 49 years of legal experience, including 35 years representing municipalities. Dill got his start in governmental law in 1974 in the office of the Palm Beach County Attorney.
Dill has served as Fellsmere City Attorney for 30 years and as Orchid Town Attorney for seven years.
Ashley Novander, a five-year Vero Beach resident who earned both a Juris Doctorate and a LLM degree in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy at the University of Denver, worked as an intern with the City of Vero Beach in 2016 before working at three local firms. At those firms, Novander has practiced personal injury and contract law, family law and real estate law.
Jennifer Peshke, a beachside Vero attorney with 16 years of experience, holds a Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Toledo. She has represented the Indian River Hospital District’s Board of Trustees for more than 12 years, plus the Indian River County Environmental Control Board and the Indian River County Code Enforcement Board for more than 10 years.
Pete Sweeney now serves as the Fort Pierce City Attorney and previously served as Assistant City Attorney for the City of Palm Bay in Brevard County. Previously Sweeney worked for eight years as a litigation associate at the Vero Beach firm of Vocelle and Berg, LLC, the firm that is representing Indian River Shores in its breach of contract lawsuit with the City of Vero Beach.
Sweeney has worked the past nine years as a full-time governmental attorney. A Florida State College of Law graduate, he has 17 years of experience.
About the search process, Harpring said “there was no timeframe associated with Chester’s final retirement date from service as town attorney and he has agreed to stay on until the Council makes an appropriate selection.”