RandySherardWarren County will hire its former board attorney to handle the county’s legal position in a case in which DiamondJacks Casino seeks to keep more than $1.042 million paid in property taxes for 2007 as part of bankruptcy filing by its parent company.

Board attorney Paul Winfield asked supervisors last week to bring in Randy Sherard, their former attorney, in some role in the filings because of his experience in bankruptcy cases.

Legends Gaming LLC, the casino’s Illinois-based parent company, announced in March it would seek protection under Chapter 11 in a dispute with its lenders over interest rates charged on its loans used to purchase its Vicksburg and Bossier City properties from Isle of Capri in 2006. Company executives have said their financial condition is sound and, at worst, the casino simply will be stuck with higher interest rates when it pays back the loans. The casino and hotel have remained open, fully staffed and a comprehensive remodeling is in progress.

Initial hearings in the casino company’s bankruptcy case are under way in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Louisiana.

Tax Collector Pat Simrall has said briefs should be filed as a precaution due to the amount of tax revenue at risk.

In hiring Sherard on a 3-2 vote, the board opened divisions of the prior administration held in check earlier this year when Winfield, 34, was retained for a fourth year.

Winfield replaced 13-year board attorney Sherard, 62, in January 2005 following a series of contentious votes. District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon and former supervisors Michael Mayfield and Carl Flanders voted to hire Winfield to replace Sherard. Reasons stated for the change centered on how much the position pays. State law and attorney general’s opinions have allowed county boards to pay attorneys as full-time employees, the same as a supervisor. In Warren County, supervisors make $44,812 a year.

Sherard and Winfield have been paid hourly. Winfield’s firm was paid $69,292 in 2006-07, while Sherard was paid $53,255 in the year before he was replaced as board attorney.

“I would be opposed to voting for Mr. Sherard,” Selmon said as supervisors met Monday.

District 2 Supervisor William Banks concurred, saying he would be “totally against Mr. Sherard as attorney.” Both supported finding Vicksburg-based legal help as Winfield requested, with no specific individual in mind.

Winfield, also city attorney in Port Gibson, received permission from supervisors to assist Sherard. How much compensation they receive was not set.

The county’s involvement in multiple lawsuits involving private landowner groups was a primary factor in the current board’s retention of Winfield, who represented the county in a circuit case and is a co-defendant with the former board in an ongoing case in federal court.