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Cass County attorney outlines staffing changes, courtroom scheduling and digital records grant
Summary
The County Attorney reported recent hires and departures, plans for courtroom scheduling tied to an anticipated November opening, and a new grant to fund early phases of a digital evidence and file management system.
Kim, the County Attorney, told the commission the office recovered staffing capacity after a bumpy period and has added new attorneys and administrative resources.
Kim said an attorney position was accelerated midyear with commission funding, allowing an early hire; another attorney will start Aug. 13. The office is tracking an anticipated courtroom opening in November. Kim said judges are reviewing two proposed rotation plans; first readings of the plans were scheduled in June with a final decision expected in July and new scheduling orders to begin in August to enable the November rotation start.
Kim described work on alternatives to incarceration and specialized dockets. She said the state passed a bill on criminal diversion programming that will select three pilot sites; Kim said she hoped the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would select Cass County as a pilot site. The County Attorney’s office also engaged with the University of North Dakota law school on recruiting law students to remain in state and to attend a fall recruiting event.
On technology, Kim said staff secured a grant to cover a large portion of the first two years of an Axon Justice digital evidence management platform, which Kim said is part of a longer plan to reach digital file management and “take us from our 10,000 paper files per year down to, hopefully, none.” She credited IT staff for reapplying after a lost grant and said the next phase would be digital file management.
Kim also described internal restructuring work, including a PAQ submitted to create a paralegal position to handle tasks between legal assistant and attorney levels. The office sponsored free ethics training for prosecutors statewide and hosted administrative professionals events.
No commission action was taken during the briefing; the report was informational.
