Secretary's Office

Office of Legal Services

Lou A. Vargas
General Counsel
(904) 488-2326
SUNCOM 488-2326

The Office of Legal Services provides legal advice to the department heads and staff regarding, among other things, personnel matters, rule promulgation, bids, contracts, sentence structure, early release, gaintime, public records, subpoenas and legislation. This Office also represents the department in judicial and administrative tribunals, and provides training to staff.

Accomplishments in 1995-96:

The Office of Legal Services complied with the Governor's rule reduction effort by repealing within a six month period a total of 165 of 371 rules, and targeting an additional 66 rules for repeal. This bureau also developed a procedure for processing public records requests at the local level and provided statewide training to staff regarding public records.