Minutes 02/10/1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1998 Board, but had not gotten a response on the matter yet. She noted the extreme need for the full time position was based upon work load and the fact that finding someone to serve as a part-time attorney was extremely difficult. Ms. Ziglar further stated that her request of Council was a commitment to fund the full-time position in question whether the Compensation approved the upgrade or not, based on the extreme need for ,~",,the position to satisfy workload requirements. Council Member Teague asked what level of support the City would provide for the position if it were funded as a full-time position by the State, and Ms. Ziglar stated she did not know. Mr. Wade Bartlett stated that he thought this position would receive the highest shared level of support that the State provides in such cases. Ms. Ziglar then introduced Mr. James Andrew Johnson, the selectee for the position in question. Ms. Ziglar went on to state that her office had a higher case load than the Henry County Commonwealth' s Attorney, but fewer staff and resources. She also stated that the heavy workload had the potential to impact effectiveness in case preparation, and noted that although the State gives her office the option to not prosecute misdemeanors, she had no intention of dropping that part of her work. Ms. Ziglar then asked Council to consider this as a protection of home town issue, and appealed to their sense of the need to prosecute crime vigorously. The amount needed from the City to provide a full time position was stated as $17,000 at this time, to match the $17,000 already in place from the State for the half-time position. Mayor Adams then noted that much of the problem of case load for the Commonwealth' s Attomey was related to offenders who did not reside in the City. He expressed a desire to find a legal way to somehow expel multiple offenders of this type from the borders of the City, and prohibit their return, stating a concern that unless there was something done to reduce caseloads there would be a recurring need to add attorneys to the office. Vice-Mayor Crabtree expressed concern that the State of Virginia was "asleep at the wheel" with regard to the funding formula that provided for staffing of the Commonwealth Attorney' s office, saying that the formula was in need of revision to provide for a more realistic level of staffing, with which Council Member Haskell also agreed. Mrs. Haskell asked Ms. Ziglar whether she had appealed the situation to the State Compensation Board, and she replied that she would be doing so on Friday of that week. Council Member Teague asked how fines and fees are brought in through the office, and was told that funds related to