FARMINGTON – County commissioners voted to extend the hours of two employees in the district attorney’s office from 37 to 40 hours a week.
Assistant District Attorneys Andrew Robinson and James Andrews had approached county officials and Budget Committee members before the budget was passed to request an increase in pay for victim witness advocate Kathy Wahl and legal secretary Mary Young.
The prosecutors said the two women’s duties have increased since they were hired — due, in part, to recently passed legislation as well as the development of specialized skills on the part of the Young.
Commissioners took no action on the pay increase before the budget approval, but Budget Committee members did put additional money in the budget after listening to state prosecutors. They also suggested commissioners review job descriptions for both women.
Robinson said previously, and again in a letter to commissioners dated Dec. 30, recently adopted laws designed to limit the number of criminals that can be put on probation created two new sentencing alternatives: deferred disposition and administrative release. Wahl was assigned the responsibility of monitoring and following through if a person violates deferred disposition. Wahl currently monitors 36 people and the number is expected to grow, Robinson wrote.
The criminals are still ordered to comply with certain conditions, including counseling, no new criminal conduct and payment of restitution and no use or possession of alcohol, and now the district attorney’s office is required to ensure that these conditions are satisfied.
Young, one of a few experts in the state, has learned how to use a computer program called Justware. Her expertise makes it possible for state prosecutors to handle the large number of cases processed by the DA’s office, Robinson wrote. The number of criminal cases the office handled in 2005 was about 18 percent higher than the previous year, he stated.
Young, on her own initiative, has also taught herself how to process criminal forfeitures for misdemeanor cases.
“Although forfeitures are regularly done on felony cases which are handled by the Attorney General’s Office staff, we rarely sought forfeitures on misdemeanor cases until Mary developed these skills,” Robinson wrote. “In 2005, Mary’s work was responsible for approximately $9,850 in forfeitures. Clearly, the law enforcement agencies seizing the money are directly responsible for the money being available for forfeiture, but without Mary’s skills we would not be able to complete the process.”
Robinson said they originally sought pay increases to compensate the women for their increased workload but upon reflection and after discussing the matter with commissioners and Budget Committee members, they proposed two alternatives to pay increases.
Commissioners chose Tuesday to increase the women’s work hours rather than put the money in the budget aside for overtime hours.
Comments are no longer available on this story