Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Criminal Justice topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mason County to seek temporary contractor for public defender duties, staff recommend reclassification and pay increase
Summary
County staff proposed hiring attorney Angela Avery as a contractor through Dec. 31 to provide interim chief public defender functions; recommended reclassification and ~25% pay bump for an administrative assistant who picked up chief duties, plus a proposal to raise misdemeanor contract rates from $100 to $150 an hour.
County staff told the Mason County Board of Commissioners they have been unable to fill the chief public defender post and recommended hiring a contractor, attorney Angela Avery, to perform supervisory and office‑management duties from Aug. 1 through Dec. 31 while a permanent chief is recruited.
At a briefing, staff said the contractor would handle office standards, supervise attorneys and assist incumbents to establish clearer protocols. The contractor would provide her own equipment; the county would provide workspace and reimburse overnight travel when she is in the region.
Staff also said the public defender office’s administrative assistant, Maggie Houston, has assumed many chief‑level administrative responsibilities since the previous chief left in March and that her duties now match a county Administrative Services Manager classification. Staff recommended reallocating Houston’s position to Administrative Services Manager with a roughly 25% base pay increase and a three‑month retroactive pay adjustment to recognize work performed since March.
Separately, staff proposed raising the contract rate for misdemeanor public defenders from $100 to $150 per hour to improve recruitment and retention of contract attorneys; felony contract rates were reported to have been raised previously. Commissioners expressed support and directed staff to place the contractor contract, the reclassification and the misdemeanor rate change on upcoming agendas for formal action.
No formal vote was taken during the briefing; staff said the items would appear on the board agenda for a future meeting for formal approval.
