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After paternity contract ends, Kalamazoo County prosecutors reassign staff and commissioners approve position changes
Summary
The county prosecutor ended a state contract for paternity establishment; staff said MDHHS will assume work and commissioners approved a midyear elimination/creation to reassign legal assistants and add a criminal investigator while raising questions about communications and service continuity.
Kalamazoo County commissioners on May 7 approved a request from the prosecutor's office to eliminate and create certain positions after the county's contract with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) for paternity-establishment work ended.
The item was contentious and produced extensive questioning from commissioners concerned about community impacts and staff notification. Before the vote, county leadership and the prosecutor described the statutory and operational context: the prosecutor's office had performed paternity-establishment work under a state reimbursement agreement; a change in staffing and the prosecutor's inability to reassign an experienced attorney led the office to notify MDHHS in early March that it would stop providing the service. MDHHS told the county it would assume responsibility for paternity-establishment work, but the transition raises questions about timing and local service continuity.
Prosecuting Attorney (unnamed in the public transcript) told the board the long-serving assistant prosecuting attorney who handled…
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