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Board approves $4,000 for public defender expert; chair to pursue contract cap change
Summary
Seward County commissioners approved a $4,000 supplemental payment from the Public Defender budget for an expert witness in a misdemeanor case and directed Chair Misty Ahmic to work with the policy committee on amending the misdemeanor expense cap in the county contract from $1,000 to $5,000.
Tana Fye, the county’s contracted public defender from FGH Law Office, informed the Seward County Board of Commissioners on March 31 that a misdemeanor case will require an expert witness and that the county’s current public defender contract requires board approval when misdemeanor case costs exceed $1,000. Fye asked that the contract cap be increased so she would not need to return to the board for similar future requests.
Chairperson Misty Ahmic said the current contract is for two years and indicated she would work with the policy committee to consider amending the contract language from a $1,000 misdemeanor approval threshold to a $5,000 threshold. Meanwhile, the board approved a one-time $4,000 increase to the Public Defender budget to cover the immediate expert-witness cost.
The motion to approve the additional funds was made by Commissioner Raegan Hain, seconded by Commissioner Darrell Zabrocki, and carried with all five commissioners voting in the affirmative. The motion record states the payment will be made from the Public Defender budget; commissioners did not adopt a contract amendment at the meeting and set no specific effective date for any future contract change.
Next steps: Chair Ahmic will follow up with the policy committee on a proposed contract amendment and county staff will process the supplemental payment for the expert witness from the Public Defender budget.
