Attorney dispensing ‘bad’ legal advice to South MS city, two board members claim
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Two alderwomen accuse city attorney Harris of giving improper legal advice
- Stennis and Pfeiffer oppose a one-year legal contract and want new counsel.
- Stennis cites missteps: improper executive session, inaccurate minutes, fee conflict.
Two members of the Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen held a news conference Monday afternoon to say the board is getting inaccurate legal advice from city attorney David N. Harris Jr. and they want to see someone else in the position.
The news conference was supposed to be preceded at 4:30 p.m. by a special-called meeting of the Board of Aldermen, scheduled by board members Karen Stennis and Shannon Pfeiffer to discuss ethics in government and terminating Harris’ contract. But Mayor Bobby Cox called off the meeting because a quorum failed to show.
In addition to Stennis and Pfeiffer, attorney Harris arrived for the meeting and sat with the women and Cox in the boardroom at City Hall. Harris did not speak.
After the news conference held in the hall, Stennis said that she would be filing formal complaints against Harris with the Mississippi Bar Association and state Ethics Commission. Pfeiffer indicated she would be doing the same.
“These are not minor issues,” Pfeiffer said at the news conference. “These are serious breaches of public trust and the law.”
Stennis outlined those issues during the news conference.
In a 5-2 vote on Nov. 18, Stennis and Pfeiffer opposed giving Harris a one-year contract. Under the contract, Stennis said, the city will pay Harris $144,000 a year, with additional fees for handling court cases.
The Nov. 18 agenda item indicated the board would discuss proposals from a number of attorneys for the contract job, Stennis said. Instead, Alderman Kevin Wade quickly moved to hire Harris.
Before the vote, Mayor Bobby Cox said that Harris did a good job as interim attorney and essentially endorsed him for the position. Harris replaces longtime city attorney Robert Wilkinson, who resigned after getting into a business deal with a former city vendor, Securix.
Securix is facing a lawsuit from residents who say they were unlawfully ticketed under the company’s uninsured motorist program.
Ocean Springs attorney’s advice questioned
Once his interim appointment expired, Harris led the board to believe the city would have to sign a one-year contract with an attorney for legal services.
Stennis said that advice was incorrect, she later learned. State law says cities “may” sign an annual contract with an attorney, not that they “shall.”
Stennis has consulted several other attorneys, she said, and learned that Harris has made other missteps, too
Harris said the board needed to go into executive session to discuss potential litigation when members should have remained in a public session, she said. The secret talk was about potential litigation to recover money if manmade chemicals called PFAs are found in the city’s drinking water. One of the contracts was with former attorney general Jim Hood and would have given Harris 15% of any contingency fee the firm was awarded, Stennis said.
“He pushed it and pushed it and pushed it,” she said. “. . . I can’t have him giving us bad advice for his financial benefit. It’s wrong.”
Harris also took minutes at one meeting, she said, and wrote down that one of the aldermen made a motion and it passed unanimously.
“That didn’t happen at all,” Stennis said. “We had to go back and change it at the next meeting.”
The Sun Herald left a voice message for Harris earlier Monday, but he did not respond. Harris has not responded to a voice message from the Sun Herald about his contract and the news conference.
“I just want to make sure the public knows what’s going on and that I’m not any part of it.” said Stennis, who took office in July, as did Shannon Pfeiffer. Stennis said that she wants to be known for honesty, integrity and transparency.
A crowd gathered for the meeting that didn’t happen and the news conference. Stennis told residents and the media, “Ocean Springs needs legal counsel that protects the public interest — not their personal interest.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM.
