Prosecutor asks for full‑time paralegal; committee approves $8,000 raise for chief assistant contingent on grant

Prosecutor Ryan Ziegler told the Committee of the Whole that his office needs a full‑time paralegal to prepare for an upcoming major trial and that the Chief Assistant had been promised an $8,000 raise that was budgeted in expectation of a prospective state grant. County Administrator David Schaeffer provided the centralized motion packet to the committee for review. County Clerk Deborah Hill cautioned that work previously handled elsewhere now falls to the Clerk’s office and that any staffing shifts create additional workloads in other departments.

Commissioner Robert Baldwin moved to approve the $8,000 raise for the Chief Assistant Prosecutor (raising the salary from $66,000 to $74,000) and to authorize a full‑time paralegal position with a $50,000 salary plus benefits, contingent on receipt of the state grant; the motion was supported by Commissioner Scott Matley and carried by consensus with no recorded opposition. The committee’s action authorizes the positions in principle but conditions the paralegal hire on grant funding; administrators noted that budgeted funds are not a mandate to spend if the anticipated grant is not received.