County council approves $150,000 for outside public-defender bills amid staffing shortfall

The county council on Tuesday approved a $150,000 appropriation to help the public defender’s office pay outside counsel bills while the office works through a backlog of felony cases.

Steve, public defender director, told the council the office has farmed out large numbers of cases since early 2023 and is still receiving daily bills from outside attorneys. "I think the current ones that we have that Crystal has on her desk are somewhere in 180 some odd thousand dollars," Steve said.

The request covered fees for attorneys the office has hired on an hourly basis because in several stretches the public defender office lacked enough local lawyers to cover new appointments. Steve said the hourly rate for outside counsel was set by the Public Defender Commission and that the office pays $125 per hour to contract attorneys. He said travel and drive time are generally included in the billed hours the county pays.

The council's $150,000 vote was framed as a near-term payment to address outstanding bills; council members repeatedly asked for more precise, up-to-date accounting and for a plan to reduce future dependence on outside counsel. "We can approve the 150 if you so desire, and then we could come back for the 30 at another point in time," a council member said during the discussion.

Discussion with the director identified several dimensions of the problem: a spike in attorney departures beginning in early 2023, new caseload standards adopted January 2024 by the Public Defender Commission (described in the meeting as a change from earlier rules), and a broader statewide shortage of lawyers. Steve told the council the office has about 10 full-time attorneys and roughly 20 part-time attorneys across the office and that, for felony work alone, the office calculated it would need roughly seven additional full‑time felony public defenders to manage current workload in-house.

Council members requested a multi-year chart of filings and appointments, a clearer accounting of outstanding bills (council members cited figures ranging from $150,000 to $180,000 in the discussion), and a more detailed plan for staffing and caseload management. Several council members said they and staff would meet with the public defender’s office outside the meeting to develop that follow-up.

The motion to appropriate $150,000 passed with no recorded opposition. Council members said the appropriation could be revisited if the outstanding balance proved higher.

Steve and council members also discussed operational details of outside counsel arrangements: whether local attorneys were being recruited first, how hourly assignments were offered, and whether travel time billed by distant attorneys could be reduced by hiring more local contract counsel. Steve said between the start of 2023 and the present the county had farmed out "1,800 and some odd cases" and that, overall since 2023, the county had spent roughly $800,000 on outside counsel, figures he offered in response to questions.

The council asked the public defender’s office to provide follow-up items including an updated dollar figure for outstanding bills, a 4–5 year trend line of filings and appointments, and a proposed remedial work plan that could include recruiting, local hourly contracts, or other options.