2027 007 RFQ ZONING ATTORNEY

Spalding County Board of Commissioners
2027 007 Request for Qualifications for County Zoning Attorney Services
August 21, 2026
Spalding County is seeking a well-qualified law firm to serve as County Zoning Attorney for the
Spalding County Board of Commissioners. The County Zoning Attorney represents Spalding
County in all legal matters related to zoning, land use, planning, and zoning appeals. Spalding
County is presently insured under ACCG's Risk Management program. Litigation matters that are
covered by that program allow ACCG to provide legal representation in those cases; the County
Zoning Attorney monitors those cases and provides additional services upon request and
direction of the Board.
Responses to this solicitation are due no later than 3:00 p.m. on September 15, 2026. Sealed
responses are due to Dr. Steve Ledbetter, County Manager, 119 E Solomon Street, Griffin,
Georgia 30223. Upon receipt of proposals, a review team will evaluate the proposals and
recommend to the Board of Commissioners the top-ranked firm or firms for an interview.
The complete RFQ document is available for review at the Spalding County website
(https://www.spaldingcounty.com) or the Georgia Procurement Registry website at
(https://ssl.doas.state.ga.us/gpr/).
Legal ad to run a total of four (4) weeks.
Please run the attached legal ad for the following dates:
Saturday August 22, 2026
Saturday August 29, 2026
Saturday September 5, 2026
Saturday September 12, 2026
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I. Purpose
Spalding County Board of Commissioners ("County") is soliciting statements of qualifications from
qualified firms to provide legal services for Spalding County, Georgia. It is the intent of the County
to engage legal counsel services from an individual attorney or attorneys from a qualified law
firm(s). The County may select multiple firms to serve its specific needs, but its preference is to
select a single entity for general legal services.
II. Instructions to Respondents
A. All responses to this Request for Qualifications shall be sent to:
Spalding County Board of Commissioners
Attn: Procurement Director
119 E Solomon Street
Griffin, Georgia 30223
B. Please place one (1) original and four (4) copies of your response in a sealed envelope
and clearly labeled in the lower left corner "Solicitation No. 2027 007 Request for
Qualifications - Legal Services, September 15, 2026". No faxed, emailed, or telephone
statements will be accepted.
C. All responses must be received by September 15, 3:00pm ET, at which time they will be
opened. It is the responsibility of the respondent to ensure that the RFQ is received by
Spalding County by the date and time specified above. Late responses will be returned to
the respondent unopened. To ensure a fair review and selection process, firms and
individual attorneys submitting qualifications are specifically requested not to make other
contacts with Spalding County staff regarding this request.
D. Any questions regarding this Request for Qualifications shall be in writing by email to
mcampbell@spaldingcounty.com. No questions shall be received after 5:00 p.m. ET,
Friday, August 28, 2026. Responses will be provided in an addendum by 5:00 p.m. ET,
Tuesday, September 1, 2026. No other County Staff or officials associated with this
project should be contacted regarding this RFQ. DOING SO, MAY RESULT IN
DISQUALIFICATION.
E. All addenda, notices, additional information, etc. will be posted to Spalding County's
website at www.spaldingcounty.com under the Purchasing Departments bid opportunities.
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III. Time Schedule
The following schedule is supplied as a guideline rather than a set of absolute deadlines. The
County reserves the right to modify or alter the schedule as needed.
Event Date & Time
Issue RFQ - First Advertisement Issue Friday August 21th, 2026
Legal Ad Saturday, August 22nd, 2026
Questions Due Friday, August 28th, 2026
Second Advertisement Saturday, August 29th, 2026
Addendum/Responses to Questions Tuesday, September 1st, 2026, 5:00pm ET
Third Advertisement Saturday, September 5th, 2026
Fourth Advertisement Saturday, September 12th, 2026
Deadline for submittal of RFQ Tuesday, September 15th, 3:00 pm ET
Selection of respondent(s) to interview Week of September 15th - 18th, 2026,
5:00 pm ET
Interviews Tuesday, September 22nd & Wednesday,
September 23rd, 2026
BoC Award Monday, October 5th, 2026, 6:00 pm ET
IV. Terms and Conditions
A. The County reserves the right to reject any and/or all proposals, call for new proposals, to
waive any informalities in a proposal, and to select the qualified parties. The County
reserves the right to accept, reject, and/or negotiate all proposals or parts of proposals
deemed by the Board to be in the best interest of the citizens of Spalding County.
B. The County reserves the right to request clarification of information submitted and to
request additional information from any respondent.
C. The County reserves the right to award any contract to the next most qualified respondent
if the successful respondent does not execute a contract within thirty (30) days after the
selection of the respondent.
D. Any proposal may be withdrawn up until the date and time set above for opening of the
RFQ responses. No proposal may be modified or withdrawn for a period of one hundred-
twenty (120) calendar days thereafter.
E. The professional services contract resulting from acceptance of a proposal by the County
shall be in a form supplied or approved by the County and shall reflect the specifications
in this RFQ. The County reserves the right to reject any proposed agreement or contract
that does not conform to the specifications contained in this RFQ, and which is not
approved by Spalding County Board of Commissioners.
F. Ownership of all data, materials, and documentation prepared for and submitted in
response to this RFQ shall belong exclusively to Spalding County and will be considered
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a public record and subject to public inspection in accordance with Georgia public records
laws. Exceptions may be requested by the applicant, citing applicable statutory authority
for holding specific information in confidence. The approval of exceptions will be in the
sole discretion of the County.
G. By submitting their qualifications, all proposing parties certify that their proposals are made
without collusion or fraud and that they have not offered or received any inducements from
any other person or party in connection with their proposals, and that they have not
conferred on any Spalding County employee or official having official responsibility for this
procurement transaction of any payment, loan, subscription, advance, deposit of money,
services, or anything of value of more than nominal value, present or promise, unless
consideration of substantially equal or greater value was exchanged.
H. By submitting their qualifications, all proposing firms certify that they are not currently
debarred from submitting bids or proposals on contracts by any agency of the State
of Georgia and the federal government, nor are they an agent of any person or
entity that is currently debarred from submitting bids on contracts by any agency
of the State of Georgia or the federal government.
I. Those submitting responses do so entirely at their expense. There is no expressed
or implied obligation by the County to reimburse any individual for any costs
incurred in preparing or submitting bids or providing additional information when
requested by the County.
V. Scope of Services
The office of the County Zoning Attorney provides timely, effective, and ethical legal
representation, advice and counsel to the Board of Commissioners, County Manager, and County
departments as mandated and authorized by the County ordinance and State statues. The office
of the County Zoning Attorney provides a broad range of legal services directed at promoting the
public service objectives of the County, while protecting the County from loss and risk.
The applying attorney or firm must be licensed in the State of Georgia and demonstrate that the
respondent is a current member in good standing with the Georgia State Bar. This person or
persons must be able to effectively work with and coordinate the work of other attorneys with
specialized expertise such as land use or labor. Under the proposed agreement, Counsel will
provide the following:
A. Provides legal advice, counsel, services, and consultation to the County Manager, County
Commissioners, and County departments (specifically Community Development) on a
wide variety of civil assignments, including but not limited to: zoning, zoning code updates
and compliance, Land Use Code applications and appeals.
B. Collaborating with local government officials and stakeholders.
C. Handling legal aspects of zoning appeals, public disclosure issues, laws against
discrimination, property/real estate law, contract law, statutory law related to service
delivery and intergovernmental agreements, and law that may affect County governance
ensuring Counsel's advice includes methods to avoid civil litigation.
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D. Ensure that the Board of Commissioners, County Manager, and County departments are
priority clients to the selected respondent.
E. Answers requests for legal opinions in writing and verbally. Prepares written legal opinions
at the request of the County Manager, County Commissioners, and County departments.
Availability to answer staff questions by telephone or email.
F. Appears before courts and administrative agencies to represent Spalding County's
interests.
G. Works cooperatively with any special legal counsel retained by Spalding County for
special projects. Coordinates with other special counsel, as needed, to ensure proper
management of legal issues, and proper coordination and transition of legal information
among special counsel.
H. Provides guidance and legal advice on the Sunshine Law, the Freedom of Information Act,
Robert's Rules of Order, and Spalding County's ordinances, rules, policies, and
procedures.
I. Assists staff to understand the legal roles and duties of their respective offices and
interrelationships with others.
J. Assists the County Manager, County Commissioners, and County departments to
maintain ethical standards and appearance of fairness standard, and to avoid potential
conflicts of interest, prohibited transactions, and the appearance of prohibited
transactions.
K. Prepares and reviews contracts, leases, intergovernmental agreements, resolutions,
ordinances, proclamations, and other legal documents for correctness and acceptability.
Negotiates said contracts, leases, intergovernmental agreements, resolutions,
ordinances, proclamations, and other documents upon request.
L. Reviews and re-drafts various ordinances and policies for legal correctness and
acceptability. This would include, by way of example, but not limited to zoning ordinances,
overlay districts, etc.
M. Representation at all special County Zoning meetings, to include Board of Zoning Appeals,
Planning Commission, and Board of Commissioners Zoning Public Hearing meetings
and/or work sessions. Attend other meetings as requested, by way of example, but not
limited to; special called meetings by Spalding County Board of Commissioners, Planning
& Zoning meetings, etc.
N. Perform other legal services and tasks as requested.
VI. Submission Requirements
A. Summarize the respondent's unique qualifications in providing legal services including
brief history of the firm, size, structure, and areas of practice.
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* Complete resumes for three (3) qualified attorneys designated by the firm at which
Spalding County will select one of the three as the point of contact or lead attorney if
the firm is selected.
* Provide information on certifications or licenses, educational institutions conferring law
degree and year of degree, professional background, and professional associations.
* Provide information about the range of services offered and available support staff.
* Provide details of any ethics violations or board actions against the firm, its attorneys,
and employees within the last ten (10) years.
B. Legal Experience
* Provide experience advising local and county governments.
* Provide experience advising clients providing similar services through local taxation,
fees, local, state, and federal funds.
* Provide examples of expertise in the civil aspects of municipal law.
* Provide at least three (3) professional references including the names, addresses, and
telephone numbers, email addresses, preferably references similar to Spalding
County for the firm.
* Provide at least three (3) professional references including the names, addresses, and
telephone numbers, email addresses, preferably references similar to Spalding
County for each of the three (3) qualified attorneys designated by the firm which
Spalding County will select one of the three as the point of contact or lead attorney.
C. Provide information on the following to demonstrate the respondent's availability and
capacity to provide timely legal services.
* Provide a statement describing how the respondent proposes to provide legal services
to the County. Address issues such as office location, accessibility to Spalding County
Board of Commissioners and County Staff, Board Meeting attendance, and other
meetings including any virtual meetings that may be required. Counsel must be
available by phone, cell phone, and email.
* Provide documentation of workload capacity commensurate with the level of service
required by the County.
* Provide information about the respondent's availability and capability to perform on
short notice and to ensure timely response and completion based on the County's
schedules and deadlines.
D. Understanding the required services and quality assurance.
* Provide a list of all local agencies or clients the respondent now represents which may
cause a potential conflict of interest with Spalding County Board of Commissioners.
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* Describe how the respondent protects client confidentiality. This applies to all
information and communications, including electronic communications, unless
available to the public through a public records request and otherwise not subject to
specific exemption.
* Describe the respondent's intended approach to communicate with the County
regarding progress reports, status reports, recommendations, status of opinions, etc.
VII. Selection Criteria
The relevant experience of each assigned party will be evaluated as it relates to the scope of
services. A committee will review the responses to the Request for Qualifications and will make
a recommendation to the Spalding County Board of Commissioners. The committee may elect to
conduct interviews with any shortlisted person(s) or firm(s).
Proposals will be evaluated based on the criteria and scoring system shown below:
EVALUATION CRITERIA WEIGHT GIVEN
Respondent Qualifications 20
Experience of the attorney 30
Respondent's availability and capacity to
40
provide timely legal services
Understanding the required services and
10
quality assurance
VIII. Contract
A. Contract Negotiations: Upon selection of the most qualified respondent based on
demonstrated competence and qualifications for the type of professional services
required, the County will negotiate payment terms which it determines is fair and
reasonable and negotiate any other portion of the contract deemed necessary. In the
event the County is not able to negotiate successfully with the top ranked respondent, the
County shall cease negotiations with that respondent and either begin negotiations with
the next ranked respondent or may choose to cancel the solicitation in its entirety. Award
shall be made to the respondent whose submittal and subsequent negotiation is most
advantageous to the County. The County reserves the right to renegotiate terms as
needed to obtain the most cost-effective services.
B. Contract Term: The contract term is two (2) years at the hourly rate proposed with the
option to renew up to one (1) one-year extensions upon mutual agreement from both
parties. A signed contract extension should be executed within thirty (30) days of the
original contract term.
C. Termination of Contract: This contract may be terminated, in whole or in part, at any time
by mutual written consent, or by the County, with or without cause, upon giving sixty (60)
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days written notice to the successful respondent. If this contract is terminated, the County
shall be liable only for payment under the payment provisions of the contract for services
rendered and accepted material received by the County before the effective date of
termination.
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