Prosecutor’s office leaders told Penobscot County commissioners on Sept. 24 that growing caseloads and new electronic evidence requirements have strained clerical and victim‑witness capacity, and they sought both staffing changes and phased technology investments.

Christine (last name not specified), who presented payroll and operations details for the department, said a key operational bottleneck is the amount of time staff spend producing subpoenas and maintaining contact with victims and witnesses. "We have jobs that are really probably clerical jobs, but they most directly impact the VWAs," she said, using the meeting's acronym for victim‑witness advocates.

The office asked the commission to consider three personnel changes: a one‑time out‑of‑scope salary adjustment for an office manager position (listed in the draft as $85,000), increasing a long‑standing part‑time victim‑witness advocate (VWA) from two to three days a week (an additional ~8 hours, estimated at roughly $12,500 in annual cost), and approval to recruit one full‑time clerical position to do centralized subpoena and victim‑contact work. Commissioners took those staffing requests under advisement and discussed whether any pay-range adjustments should be handled centrally by human resources.

On technology, prosecutors described two interlocking needs: an updated, county‑controlled discovery portal to host and provide secure access to digital evidence, and replacement of aging office computers.

Office staff said two vendor demos for hosted discovery systems returned high multi‑year price estimates (demonstrations included enterprise products that quoted initial costs in the tens of thousands). As an alternative, staff described an option to host an e‑discovery portal on county servers shared with other counties; the presenters said the first‑year hardware and setup cost for a county‑hosted option would be roughly $29,000–$34,000, with lower recurring fees thereafter. The office proposed holding funds in reserve next year and buying servers in a later budget year if the county decides to proceed.

Commissioners asked for a clear capital plan and a more exact budget breakdown before committing to server purchases. "If we're calculating this, we should calculate 3 years," one commissioner said; staff suggested a multi‑year replacement cycle and recommended setting aside modest reserves next budget year (staff suggested an illustrative county contribution of about $8,000 next year toward the multi‑year plan).

Separately, the commissioners approved the immediate purchase of 11 desktop computers for the DA's office at a total cost of $20,920, to be paid from the office's capital account. The board voted in favor after a motion and second; staff said a capital account balance of about $38,000 existed to cover the purchase.

The DA’s presenters also asked the commission to consider the capabilities of automatic victim notification systems and to weigh how much victim‑notification responsibility should shift to automated tools versus personal outreach by VWAs. The office said weekly bail and review hearings — and the increase in court events — have increased victim contacts and that a clerical specialist focused on subpoenas and outreach would free VWAs for direct victim services.

Why this matters: the presentations tied staffing levels, capital technology plans and evidence‑management choices together: clerical staffing affects the office's ability to notify victims and manage subpoenas; a secure discovery portal is a recurring operational need as the office moves toward e‑filing and digital evidence; and the approved computer purchases are a short‑term step to replace expired warranties while staff develop a longer technology plan.