At the Nov. 25 meeting, Public Defender Service Corporation staff proposed a baseline reporting package for board oversight and gave operational updates on the Private Attorney Panel (PAP) and finances.

Staff recommended quarterly reporting that would include counts of cases open and closed, number of conflicts, major case events, and highlights from the case-management system. Trustees asked for additional metrics including active caseload per attorney and average time to disposition to compare workloads against national standards. Staff said the case-management system will generate Excel-based reports and that FY2025 year-end numbers can be provided at the January meeting.

On the PAP, staff reported the panel has office space on the fifth floor of the DNA Building (Suite 503) and is using the ZLS case-management system. For October the PAP reported appointee counts (staff cited, for example, 25 criminal appointees and 27 juvenile appointees for the month) and said a bank of four investigators is already available and being expanded to seven or eight. Trustees discussed invoice reconciliation with court records to avoid duplicate payments and noted the client-service trust fund and other appropriations as possible sources for expert witness and interpreter funding.

Chair introduced Rudy Rosario as the new chief financial officer, saying he joined the team recently and has nearly 25 years of experience in departmental administration. Rosario said he was already reviewing fiscal balances and will coordinate with staff ahead of the upcoming budget season.

Trustees did not take final action on reporting cadence or PAP resourcing but directed staff to circulate required statutory reporting items and prior reports so the board can set a reporting baseline and review finances and the consolidated bylaws packet at the Jan. 27 meeting.