Juvenile Court seeks reclassification and to centralize attorney billing-review work

Judge Amanda Dean, newly named presiding juvenile court judge for Hall and Dawson counties, asked commissioners to reclassify the court’s judicial assistant position to an executive judicial assistant. The reclassification would reflect expanded duties: the role would assume billing-review work for appointed counsel invoices that previously had been handled by indigent defense and the Hall County office.

The nut graf: county staff and an external audit recommended centralizing the attorney-invoice compliance review within juvenile court to ensure consistent application of policies and to separate review functions from indigent-defense administration; the judge argued a dedicated billing specialist or reclassified executive assistant would improve controls and likely reduce improper or duplicative billings.

Judge Dean said the change avoids hiring an additional employee because the Dawson County judicial assistant would take on the billing-specialist responsibilities for Dawson; Hall County is implementing a similar process. The court also requested a 25% reduction in attorney-time budget lines reflecting anticipated efficiencies and lower spend after improved oversight.

Commissioners raised process questions about how the new workflow will operate and whether indigent defense budgets would be adjusted; Judge Dean said administrative details have been worked out with Hall County and that the new process had begun in Hall and took effect in Dawson September 1. No personnel action was approved at the session; the request was presented for the board’s consideration during budget adoption.

The judge said final implementation will include training for the staff member performing the compliance review and continued judicial oversight of exceptions flagged by the billing specialist.