2007 Walter Barnard Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement in University Public Service & Outreach

Paul T. Hardy

Paul T. Hardy, a UGA attorney specializing in government law, has served the university for more than 28 years and has helped improve governance at state and local levels through technical and legal assistance, training and publications. He is known nationwide for his expertise in city-county consolidation.

Hardy has been directly involved with the efforts of 12 Georgia counties to consolidate city and county government, and has been an advisor for many other such projects around the state and the nation. The document he submitted to the U.S. Justice Department for unification of the Athens-Clarke government is used as a model for submissions of consolidations nationwide. Hardy served as the legal advisor to three of the five successful consolidation efforts in Georgia, including the two most recent efforts that consolidated the governments of Cusseta-Chattahoochee County and Georgetown-Quitman County.

His publications such as the Handbook for Georgia Mayors and Council Members and the Handbook for Georgia County Commissioners provide tools that help local officials govern effectively. These books also serve as textbooks for “Newly Elected Officials Training Sessions” sponsored by Georgia’s Municipal Association and the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia. Other publications such as Compliance Auditing in Georgia Counties and Municipalities and the Official Code of Georgia Annotated give local officials and auditors easy access to all the state statutes that deal with public monies and help ensure that expenditures of tax revenues comply with state laws.

Hardy is the attorney and fiscal officer for the SouthEast Regional Director’s Institute, an organization that looks beyond political boundaries to find regional solutions to emerging issues in the Southeast.

He has conducted research on laws that relate to public pensions, interstate compacts and other areas that help foster research-based public policy. Hardy also assists individual legislators with specific issues. Because of his expertise in local government law, he is frequently invited to speak by regional and national organizations.