As lawyers battle of what texts are public, Jodi Jerich, the commission's executive director, said Monday she has hired a new special counsel for the panel.
"Because of what's going on, it highlighted our need for this," she said.
Part of it, she said, is dealing with things like public records requests. Jerich said the commission has had to hire outside counsel to handle these because its own in-house attorney has been busy with regulatory matters.
But Jerich also said that Christopher Kempley, also will serve as the commission's "ethics officer."
"Right now we have issues of prejudgment (of pending issues) and bias," she explained. That follows complaints alleging that Bob Stump and other commissioners already have decided that utilities should be able to impose surcharges on customers who generate their own electricity through rooftop solar units.
Jerich said Kempley could serve as a needed adviser to commissioners to keep them on the right side of the law.
