Travis County Public Defender Chief Adeola Mankhede asked the Commissioner's Court on Aug. 13 to add permanent staff so the Public Defender can absorb a larger share of felony caseloads and supervise staff effectively. The office requested two attorney six positions, one investigator, one social worker and one paralegal to “right‑size” the adult division and said one additional attorney six had already been recommended by Planning & Budget.

Mankhede said the office’s current structure was established under grant terms when the public defender was first created and that caseload composition has shifted toward more serious felony filings over the last five years. She told the court the office needs supervisory attorney capacity so senior staff can spend time mentoring and overseeing work (file reviews, hearings, courtroom observation) rather than being consumed by direct case work; the package also included investigator and social worker capacity to sustain holistic defense practice.

The Public Defender also repeated a request for a dedicated expunction attorney to ensure clients who receive dismissal or favorable dispositional outcomes have their records cleared. Mankhede said the institution handles thousands of clients whose cases produce expunction eligibility and that an in‑house attorney would convert favorable outcomes into cleared records rather than routing clients to outside resources or pro se clinics, where many clients do not complete expunction filings.

Members of the PDO Oversight Board and commissioners expressed support for funding the staffing additions and for including the expunction attorney in future funding discussions. PBO asked for costing details and noted that some investigator pay‑grade adjustments were being evaluated in the county benchmark study; staff will provide final cost estimates for the right‑sizing package at budget markup.