Jan 24, 2020 2 min read

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct name of the county’s new contracted law firm.

With a changeover in the party holding the majority of seats on the Washington County Board of Commissioners earlier this month came a new law firm providing legal counsel.

Although the board hired the firm of Steptoe and Johnson PLLC and its representative, Jana Phillis Grimm, during the first week of January, the three members did not set compensation until Thursday.

The annual rate of $142,577 is the same as what the previous county solicitor, J. Lynn DeHaven of the firm Goldfarb, Posner, Beck, DeHaven and Drewitz, received last year.

Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan said the solicitor’s position typically included a 3% annual raise, which is no longer part of the contract.

“Our solicitor will be tracking hours of work provided and we’ll take a look at this at a later date,” she said.

The contract approved this week with Steptoe and Johnson lasts through Jan. 6, 2024.

When announcing his departure as 2019 drew to a close, DeHaven noted that his 16-year tenure coincided with the first countywide property reassessment in 35 years, and he thanked Scott Fergus, former commissioner, an attorney and county director of administration who is now on medical leave, for his assistance.

The new solicitor’s husband, attorney Robert Grimm, represented the commissioners in their attempt to delay a reassessment in the appellate courts, an effort that ended when the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2013.

In November, the board renewed its professional services contract with Robert Grimm to represent the county at a $155 hourly rate in matters related to employment, but Irey Vaughan noted earlier this month that Robert Grimm and Jana Phillis Grimm work for different law firms.

Attorney Robert Grimm of the Pittsburgh firm Swartz Campbell LLC is under contract through 2020 to provide services to the county for employment- and unemployment-related cases, civil rights matters, cases before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

Based on the outcome of the Nov. 5 election, Republicans took control of the county board of commissioners for the first time in 20 years with Nick Sherman replacing Democrat Harlan Shober. Commissioner Larry Maggi was reelected, but finished second in ballot to Irey Vaughan.