Orange County committee approves two new chief assistant county attorney positions

The Orange County Personal Compensation Committee voted to create two Grade 27 chief assistant county attorney positions — one focused on local municipal matters and one for juvenile justice — and approved a related change to a job specification on funding drawn from the county’s existing and 2026 budget. The committee carried the measures on voice votes after a brief discussion.

County Attorney Mr. Golden told the committee the county has seen increased work with municipalities and a rise in juvenile delinquency prosecutions. "There has been an increase in a lot of matters that the county has with local towns, cities and villages," he said, and added that "it is the county attorney's office that prosecutes all juvenile delinquents throughout Orange County. It's not handled at all by the district attorney's office." He also said juvenile delinquency filings "have doubled" in recent years.

Mr. Golden said the office currently has three full-time assistants handling juvenile prosecution — "one is a senior assistant and two assistant county attorneys" — and requested a chief assistant to oversee juvenile justice work and another to oversee municipal matters and contract work. He said the office manages "over 1,600 contracts" across "30 plus departments," and that additional supervisory capacity would reduce delays.

On funding, Mr. Golden said the two positions are included in the county’s 2026 budget and that he has sufficient funds in his current budget so "I don't need any supplemental appropriation to go ahead and fund them." He estimated each position’s salary at about $170,000 to $180,000 and indicated total cost including benefits would be higher; a committee member later characterized an approximate total for both positions in the range of half a million dollars.

The committee also approved a separate personnel action to modify the job specification for chief assistant county attorney, family law and juvenile justice (title number 561760) to delete juvenile justice responsibilities for that specific position; the change was to be funded from existing budget resources.

Both measures were put to voice votes. After the chair called for a vote on the creation of the two chief assistant positions committee members responded "Aye," and the chair said the motion "carried." The modification to the job specification was moved by Jim O'Donnell and carried on a voice vote as well.

Meeting minutes reflect that members asked about costs and funding sources during the discussion and that committee members’ questions, including those from a member identified as Mr. Amos, were answered by the county attorney during the session. No recorded roll-call vote totals or individual recorded no votes were provided in the meeting transcript.

The committee concluded without further action on the other brief agenda item referencing a proposed amendment to local hotel/motel occupancy tax to include short-term rental units; the transcript indicates that item was mentioned but not discussed in substantive detail during this meeting.