Former county counselor hired to work with codes court

By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com

MOUND CITY – The Linn County commissioners voted unanimously on Monday, July 22, to hire former county counselor Mark Hagen as the codes court attorney to work with Planning and Zoning Director Darin Wilson.

Wilson recommended that the commissioners hire Hagen because, with the  absence of a county counselor, the county cannot move forward with the codes court. Wilson said there had been phone calls with concerns about the county not having codes court.

Wilson said that with hiring Hagen, the county would be able to proceed with court whether there was a county counselor or not. 

Commission Chair Danny McCullough said that, “Hagen was already familiar with the cases and everything like that and threw his name back in the running for it, so I don’t have an issue with it.”

Commissioner Jason Hightower said that he did not have an issue with it either.

In his resignation letter as county counselor of June 24, Hagen had stated that he was leaving because “communications have broken down between attorney and clients to such an extent that effective representation is no longer feasible.”