The County Attorney, Kenneth B. Cuyler, works directly for the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County. It is the job of the County Attorney and his staff of seven attorneys to represent the County in litigation cases filed by and against the County; to research, draft and provide legal review of ordinances, resolutions, agreements, contracts, and all other legally binding documents provided to the Board of County Commissioners for review; to attend meetings and workshops of the Board of County Commissioners and advisory boards; to provide legal advice and opinions to the Board of County Commissioners and county staff; and to anticipate and facilitate in solving legal problems for the Board and county staff.
The County Attorney answers to and advises each of the five County Commissioners directly as individual Commissioners and the Board of County Commissioners as a whole. Each of the seven Assistant County Attorneys has various areas of responsibility within the county structure such as real property, land use, utilities, purchasing and transportation. The County Attorney and two Assistant County Attorneys are primarily responsible for handling litigation cases filed by and against the County. However, other Assistant County Attorneys may become involved with or may handle specific cases within their areas of responsibility.
All legally binding documents, including but not limited to, ordinances, resolutions, contracts, agreements, etc. which are to be signed by the Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners on behalf of the County must be reviewed and approved for legal sufficiency by the County Attorney's office.
In addition to the above, the County Attorney's office is called upon to respond to questions from the public, media, private attorneys, constitutional officers, municipal employees, employees of the state and employees from other counties with reference to every aspect of Collier County government and actions taken by the Board of County Commissioners and county staff.