Jared Farnsworth made his debut Thursday evening as the counsel for the Terre Haute City Council, replacing city attorney Eddie Felling.
He had one complicated decision to weigh in on Thursday — no Council member made a motion on one special ordinance before the Council’s new president, Curtis DeBaun IV, pounded his gavel. Farnsworth said that once the gavel falls, the motion is done, so the ordinance was defeated due to a lack of a motion.
Farnsworth, a Terre Haute native, studied law at Indiana University Bloomington, John Marshall Law School in Atlanta and Georgetown University Law Center. He is partner at the local law firm Nattkemper & Farnsworth, LLC.
Farnsworth has both a personal and professional relationship with city attorney Eddie Felling.
In late 2022, “[Felling] indicated that after the start of the year, he’d have a conflict,” Farnsworth said. “So I indicated that I’d be interested in serving the city.” He will advise the Council on legal issues and protocol.
Though Farnsworth’s preferred areas of practice focus on financial issues and elder law, his skill set will serve the City Council well.
“A lot of [what I do] is drafting, reviewing, interpreting, and I think that with [the Council job], it’s the same thing,” he said. “The law is fairly well laid out — I don’t claim to know the ends and outs of all of it, but you can look it up. I’ll be well suited for it.”
While at IU, he joined the Marine reserves, graduating from recruit training a month before Sept. 11. He served in the initial operation in 2003’s war with Iraq and eventually participated in three combat tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as a sea deployment with a Marine Corps Expeditionary unit.
In 2009, while he was aboard the USS New Orleans, it was hit by the submarine USS Hartford in the Strait of Hormuz. Both vessels were able to continue under their own power, though the New Orleans suffered a ruptured fuel tank. The Hartford’s skipper was relieved of his duties.
“I take an overall positive from my military experience,” he said.
Farnsworth said he’s eager to work with the members of the council, and “I look forward to serving the community — not in a direct, elected position, but in some small way.”
Farnsworth is a member of both the Terre Haute and Indiana State Bar Associations.
