County Commission considers whether to let him go or rein him in The Monroe County Commission will decide Wednesday whether to just limit attorney Jerry Coleman’s scope of work or end his contract. The county has paid Coleman more than $400,000 over the past two years to work on affordable housing issues. His hourly rate is scheduled to increase from $350 to $500 on Jan. 1. County Commissioner Sylvia Murphy has sponsored a resolution requesting that Coleman’s contract be terminated as of Jan. 11, “due to Monroe County’s precarious financial situation and the fact that we may have to lay off some county employees, this service seems superfluous,” the resolution reads. The County Commission had to take millions of dollars out of reserves to balance this year’s budget. Cutting library hours and raising bus fees have been proposed to address budget shortfalls. “I can’t take away from programs and fire people while we are going to be paying $500 [per hour] for this attorney,” Murphy said. Commissioner George Neugent also wants to discuss Coleman’s contract at the meeting. Neugent had not proposed terminating the contract, but said he wants County Attorney Suzanne Hutton to have more supervision over the number of hours Coleman works and the issues he works on. Coleman has submitted invoices for working on wastewater projects and giving advice on Navy jet noise issues, which Hutton rejected for being beyond his scope as an affordable housing consultant, county memos show. Hutton has placed an item on Wednesday’s agenda asking commissioners to clarify Coleman’s work, as the county is facing “extreme budgetary constraints,” the resolution states. The resolution would replace Coleman’s current contract. The new contract calls for affordable housing task force members to refrain from contacting Coleman directly, unless it is at one of their quarterly meetings. The members should instead direct their questions to the county’s full-time affordable housing coordinator or to a division director, who should have the answers, Hutton wrote. Commissioners Mario Di Gennaro and Dixie Spehar and County Mayor Sonny McCoy support keeping Coleman, but limiting the scope of his work and the number of hours he works. “There has been a hell a lot of firing lately and not all of it has been justified,” McCoy said last week. Di Gennaro argues that Coleman has successfully lobbied the state for $1.75 million in grants for construction of 18 affordable units on Big Coppitt Key. “Should we narrow the scope of work? Yes,” Di Gennaro said. “Should we keep costs down? Yes. I don’t want to save a nickel that will cost a dollar.” Dixie wants to cap Coleman’s contract at $350 an hour, rather than allowing it to increase to $500 an hour on Jan. 1, she said. Coleman did not return a telephone message requesting comment.