Prosecutor seeks temporary investigator and multiple position upgrades; commissioners approve conversions and staffing measures

Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Stanley Mortensen told commissioners May 15 he seeks to use budget savings from a frozen legal assistant position to fund a temporary part-time investigator and to convert multiple attorney positions to higher pay grades to reflect current duties and improve retention.

Mortensen said the item was mislisted on the agenda as a victim service coordinator and asked the board to amend the record to reflect an investigator position. He told the board the temporary investigator would be funded by money left over from a legal assistant line that is not expected to be filled in the near term and that the position would ease investigative workload and relieve reliance on outside agency detectives. Mortensen said his two full-time investigators are "at an over capacity" and that a third, temporary or part-time investigator would help cover trial preparation, exhibits, witness preparation and follow-up work; he proposed the hire for the remainder of the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year, contingent on not filling the legal assistant position.

Mortensen also requested a correction for a previously under-budgeted attorney slot and the conversion of multiple AT2 attorney positions to higher AT levels (AT3 through AT5) to recognize attorneys already handling felony work and to support retention. He told commissioners the conversion for position number 429-001 from AT2 to AT5 was a corrective, budget-neutral request for the current year (savings from prior underfill) but would increase next year's budget by about $50,000 if sustained. Mortensen framed the group of conversions as career-advancement and retention measures and said some of the promotions could be staged into FY26; he also proposed eliminating or freezing a part-time position (agenda-listed 435003) to reallocate funds.

Auditor's office representative Bradi Thokken clarified that three of the position numbers on the agenda were FY26 requests and asked that the board not approve FY26 requests outside the regular budget cycle so those requests could be evaluated with other elected officials' FY26 submissions. Commissioners and Mortensen agreed to submit the FY26 items through the budget process for evaluation; the board approved immediate requests that were within this fiscal year and agreed to follow up at the business meeting with amended listings where needed.

Board action: the board approved, by unanimous vote, a temporary part-time investigator position funded from existing savings and approved the conversion of position number 429-001 from AT2 to AT5; the board also approved a package of conversions (position numbers discussed on the record) and freezing/eliminating a part-time position as described in Mortensen's request. Commissioners voting "Aye" were Commissioner Eberline, Commissioner Duncan and Chair Metari. The board asked HR to provide ongoing workload and case-count data so trends can be tracked and to factor FY26 requests into the formal budget process.

Mortensen noted trial numbers have risen from under 30 per year to about 49 in 2024 and projected the county is on track to exceed last year's trial count in 2025; he said that workload increase and investigators' overtime needs contribute to the request for a temporary investigator. He said the temporary investigator would likely be filled by retired officers or external applicants and that the office would open applications if initial recruitment did not produce a candidate.

The board agreed Mortensen should provide additional data (monthly felony/misdemeanor intake and caseload trend lines) and that HR would review recruitment results when assessing whether market alignment or job-description changes are needed for future conversions.