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Douglas County authorizes county attorney to hire experienced attorney at step 5
Summary
Douglas County approved the county attorney’s request to hire an experienced attorney at step 5 because of a staff shortage; the candidate is described as having five years of criminal defense experience and being local.
County Attorney Mr. Larson asked the Douglas County board for permission to hire an experienced attorney at step 5 to fill a vacancy in his office, saying the office is short one attorney and that hiring at the entry-level (step 1) was not viable in the current market.
Mr. Larson described the candidate as having five years of criminal defense experience, being from the area and interested in returning, and said hiring at a higher step had previously been allowed by the board. He said hiring at any step higher than step 5 would be unfair to other veteran attorneys in the office. He told the board the candidate is available to start "later this month" but the transcript phrase for the proposed start date is ambiguous.
An unidentified board member (S1) moved to approve the hiring authorization and an unidentified board member (S3) seconded. A roll-call vote recorded "Yes" from Kalina, Wei, Meyer and Schmidt; the chair announced the motion carried.
Why it matters: The vote authorizes the county attorney’s office to recruit and hire at a higher step to compete in the current labor market; the hire is intended to fill an immediate staffing gap and maintain prosecutorial capacity.
Next steps: The county attorney may proceed to offer the position at step 5 and report back on the hire and start date; the transcript does not include a finalized offer or the candidate’s name.
