The Garfield County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 11 denied a request from the County Attorney’s Office to hire a replacement Assistant County Attorney I but approved an internal promotion of a legal assistant to a paralegal position.

County attorneys and finance staff told commissioners the vacancy resulted from a recent resignation. The county attorney’s office said the departing attorney handled a broad caseload — dependency and neglect, assessor and BOE hearings, treasurer and public trustee work, mental‑health and adult protection cases and airport matters — and warned the workload concentrated on a few remaining attorneys would be unsustainable if the position remained open long term.

The county manager and finance director summarized the budget context: the county faces a property‑tax shortfall for next year and a hiring freeze tied to vacancy savings. Staff estimated that filling the Assistant County Attorney I position for the balance of this year and into 2026 would cost about $214,404 (annualized) and that promoting the legal assistant to paralegal would equate to roughly a $15,000 salary difference in wages and about $166,875 when extended across a full year as presented in budget scenarios.

Commissioners discussed alternatives, including using professional‑services lines for outside counsel to cover temporary workload, freezing other positions, staged hiring and monitoring operational impacts. Several commissioners said they expected the office could manage through Oct. 1 without refilling the attorney slot and that the board should reassess if the workload created an undue burden on county attorneys. One commissioner cited concern about morale and retention if workloads remain high.

The board voted to approve the paralegal promotion (motion approved and chair authorized to sign) and to deny the Assistant County Attorney I replacement at this time, with the motion to deny carried 2‑1. Commissioners included direction that the situation be closely monitored and that the request could be revisited if Worsening workload or an emergency arose.