Lane County Commissioners may soon part ways with their lawyer. The commissioners are scheduled to vote Tuesday on terminating Rob Bovett’s contract.

Lane County hired Bovett as county counsel early last year. He previously was an attorney and lobbyist for the Oregon Association of Counties, assistant county counsel to Washington County and the District Attorney for Lincoln County.

The office of county counsel is responsible for providing legal advice to the board of county commissioners and oversees other legal services at the county, like risk management.

Commissioners are scheduled to vote on whether to terminate Bovett’s contract without cause or comment, and pay him a year’s worth of wages and insurance premiums.

That’s about $275,000 plus the value of unused vacation, according to county spokesperson Devon Ashbridge. She said the amount was in accordance with Bovett’s employment agreement, and declined to offer additional details about the upcoming vote.

Bovett’s work in his last performance review exceeded expectations, according to agenda documents.

KLCC has requested a copy of Bovett’s settlement agreement from the county’s public records office.

Lane County’s previous lawyer, Erin Pettigrew, left after about the same amount of time on the job. The county later paid out $250,000 to settle claims that some commissioners had discriminated against her.

Rebecca Hansen-White is a reporter with the KLCC newsroom. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/24/lane-county-commissioners-may-fire-their-legal-counsel/