A representative of the county attorney's office told commissioners the office is asking to convert a part-time investigator and a part-time civil attorney to full-time positions and to increase the budget for continuing education and conferences to meet rising legal work demands.

The representative said the office has taken on more civil matters and federal cases and is handling increased public-records requests and policy review. Expanding in-house capacity, the speaker argued, would reduce the need to hire outside counsel at higher hourly rates.

Why it matters: Expanding the county attorney's in-house staff could lower outside counsel costs and affect the county budget if additional FTEs or benefits are approved.

The speaker said one investigator was approved as part-time and the office wants to make that investigator full time to support investigations and trial preparation. The office also requested converting a part-time civil attorney (named in the transcript as Trent Lau/Trent Ralph in different lines) to a full-time civil attorney to handle planning, development and civil casework.

Budget staff noted that some prosecutorial funding identified as "SB 22" (described in the meeting) may partially cover positions; the county attorney's representative said the office would ask the court to supplement any gaps the SB 22 allocation does not cover.

No formal vote on these staffing requests was recorded in the transcript; the requests were presented for commissioner consideration as part of broader budget discussions.

Speakers are identified from the meeting transcript and paraphrased accordingly.