Duplin appoints temporary prosecutor
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on August 1, 2005 1:46 PM
KENANSVILLE -- Duplin County has hired Wendy Sivori as its temporary county attorney while county commissioners decide whether to retain a full-time lawyer to represent the county or to use a legal firm as needed.
Ms. Sivori takes the place of Tim Smith, who resigned in June. Smith represented the county for 13 years while operating a private practice.
Ms. Sivori, 29, has worked for the Pitt County Legal Department, which has four lawyers on its staff. She resides in Wilson but said she would move to Duplin if she is named the county's full-time lawyer.
"I believe to serve as a county attorney you need to live in the county," she said. "I would have no problem moving."
Sivori said county officials and residents she has met have welcomed her with open arms and that she enjoys the job. Much of the work is similar to that she performed for Pitt County, she said.
She has been hired for 90 days while commissioners determine how much legal help they need.
Ms. Sivori said she has been busy since starting work in Duplin earlier this month. She said she was in court four times this week, on Tuesday and Wednesday for Child Protective Services and for the Environmental Health Department Thursday morning.
"They are keeping me busy," she said, noting that the hardest part of the job has been to take up litigation in mid-stream.
Sivori is a New Jersey native, a graduate of James Madison University in Va., and the Penn State School of Law. She moved to Greenville in 2001 after graduating from law school.
She has lived in Wilson to be centrally located between work and Raleigh, where her fiance, Steve Wasserman, is studying engineering at N.C. State University.