Jared Harrison of Kingfisher was hired as the Town of Hennessey’s attorney by the board of trustees during its meeting Thursday night.

Harrison, the city attorney for Kingfisher, said his rate is $225 an hour.

Trustee Bert Gritz said he’d like to have an attorney at all meetings.

He suggested a contract rate possibly based on the total number of meeting hours over the past year.

Harrison said he thought that would be possible.

There was also discussion about reaching Harrison by phone or online. That’s because many of the cities and towns he represents meet on the same nights.

Gritz said meeting on a different night would be OK with him, but didn’t know about the rest of the board.

Attorney Wynne is Retiring Harrison replaces the town’s long-time attorney, John Wynne of Enid. Wynne is retiring, and his resignation was effective and accepted that night. However, he said he’d also help Harrison out for a few months.

Wynne has been the attorney for more than a dozen communities over the past 20 years.

“And, Harrison is young enough to be Hennessey’s town attorney for the next 20 years,” Wynne said.

He’d recommended Harrison to the board because of his experience with municipal government and “he has picked up the bulk of my towns.”

As of Tuesday night Harrison had “picked up” these Wynne towns: Pond Creek, Canton, Jet, Carmen and Medford.

The votes on both the resignation and hiring actions were unanimous.

Trustees present were Mayor Clif Vogt, Gritz, David Jones and Randy Bohnstedt. Absent was Vice Mayor Harold Shaw.

Other town officers present were Town Clerk/Minutes Clerk Kelley Vaverka and Town Treasurer Shelley Burch (who is also the Town Hall office manager). Also at the meeting was Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman.

Municipal Experience/ Law Firm Before some of those new clients, Harrison has been the attorney for the City of Kingfisher, the City of Watonga, and the Town of Waukomis. He is also the outside council for Cimarron Electric Cooperative and the American Legion, Department of Oklahoma.

He is a shareholder with Harrison & Mecklenburg Inc. in Kingfisher, practicing primarily in real estate, oil and gas, estate planning and administration, business law, and municipal law. He also holds state abstractor and title insurance licenses.

Personal/Education

He and his wife, Jessica, have two sons, Myles and Finley, and they attend the First United Methodist Church.

Harrison was born and raised in Kingfisher County and as a youngster worked on their family farm and also served as a White House intern in 2001 from August-December.

He received his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University in 2004, then completed his law degree from Oklahoma City University in 2006 and was admitted to practice law in Oklahoma in 2007.

Community Service

Harrison is currently serving as the chief operating officer of the Oklahoma American Legion Boys’ State program, where he has helped implement a mock judicial branch to help show how the Oklahoma judicial system works and oversees all education components of the program.

He is a past chairman of the Oklahoma Bar Association Real Property Section; past president of the Kingfisher Rotary Club and past president of the Kingfisher County Development Foundation, and also served as a member of the board of trustees for the Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce, 2007-2010, and the Kingfisher Educational Foundation Board of Directors, where he has served as president.

( Ed. note: More from the meeting will be featured in upcoming editions.)