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County Counsel outlines civil-legal role, specialized juvenile and probate workload
Summary
County Counsel described the office's role providing civil legal services to the county, highlighted a heavy juvenile-dependency workload and conservatorship obligations, and asked supervisors to use the office early for legal questions to reduce risk and speed decisions.
County Counsel Charlotte Scott summarized the civil-legal services her office provides to the Board of Supervisors and county departments and described the office's specialized workload in juvenile dependency and probate mental-health matters.
Scott said county counsel is the statutory civil attorney for the county and advises the board, departments and many local boards and commissions. She said the office must, by statute and practice, represent the county's interests (not individual employees) and is responsible for a broad set of obligations: drafting impartial ballot analyses, advising the grand jury, representing the county in civil litigation, and handling probate and conservatorship matters tied to public guardianship.
Scott noted that about half of counsels' workload in Mendocino County is concentrated in specialized areas: juvenile dependency litigation and probate/mental-health conservatorships. She said the county counsel's juvenile dependency team manages petitions that allege child abuse or neglect, conducts litigation across hearing stages and handles appeals in-house; she noted that many comparable offices devote a substantial portion of staff to dependency work.
On the civil side, Scott said remaining deputy counsels handle a wide variety of assignments across departments: public-safety legal needs, contracts, labor and employment guidance, land-use and other matters. She encouraged early engagement with county counsel to manage risk, expedite decisions, and to make legal support more effective for department operations.
Scott described the office as a small, full-service internal law office and said that training, legal-research tools and staff workload balance are priorities to maintain capability across the county's diverse civil-legal needs.
Ending: Scott said she will continue to provide proactive legal guidance to departments and asked supervisors to consult county counsel early when new policy or operational decisions are contemplated.
