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Cochise County attorney's civil division outlines workload, rising public-records and zoning cases
Summary
The county attorney's civil division gave an annual briefing covering adoptions, guardianships, tax appeals, a rising volume of public-records requests (driven largely by sheriff's office requests), and a notable uptick in planning-and-zoning enforcement. Staff flagged time-sensitive election and litigation matters and listed staffing and facility constraints for Title 36 mental-health cases.
The Cochise County Attorney's civil division presented an annual overview to the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 24, reporting workload shifts across adoptions, guardianships, tax appeals and public-records requests.
County Attorney staff said the office provides free adoption services mainly for familial adoptions processed through the Department of Child Safety and noted a sharp decrease in finalized adoption filings in 2025 compared with the recent mean. Katharine Barney, the division paralegal who oversees many Title 36 (mental-health commitment) filings, said the office filed 142 petitions for court-ordered evaluation last year; 28 petitions advanced to court-ordered treatment and 23 resulted in treatment orders. She added that 119 cases were dismissed for reasons such as the subject becoming voluntary for treatment or not meeting criteria.
The civil division also described work on tax appeals and tax-lien foreclosures, with one large pending tax appeal identified as involving a major retailer. Staff said the office has engaged appellate counsel for a case now headed to the Arizona Supreme Court.
Public-records requests remain a significant and growing workload, the presentation said. County staff said the sheriff's office accounts for an outsize share of requests (body-worn camera and report requests), and the county is deploying a new public-records system that will post requests and searchable results online to reduce duplicate filings.
Planning-and-zoning enforcement saw a roughly 20% increase in received violations last year, staff said, and the office is handling several contested matters including the high-profile Ramsey Canyon case. On mental-health matters, staff named Canyon Vista Medical Center in Sierra Vista as the county's primary facility for Title 36 evaluations and said some inmates are transferred to outside facilities (CBI in Tucson) when local facilities cannot accommodate certain populations.
Supervisors asked how residents facing eviction obtain free legal help; staff clarified evictions are civil matters and referred residents to Southern Arizona Legal Aid. The county attorney's office said it would continue to represent county departments in litigation and provide front-end HR support to avoid merit-commission appeals.
Chair thanked the civil division for the briefing and the board moved on to other agenda items.
