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Public Defender's Office recommending the Board approve the continuation of an emergency appointment extra-help Legal Office Assistant through December 31, 2015.
FUNDING: This position is funded through the general fund, but there should be no increased cost to the general fund, as this salary can be absorbed through salary savings in the Public Defender's Fiscal Year 2015/16 budget.
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DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION
The Department is recommending that the extra-help Legal Office Assistant that was hired as an emergency appointment be exceeded past the original 30 days that the position was initially hired for. Due to a retirement and an extended leave, the Placerville office currently only has 1 full time support staff to provide all support staff services such as requesting and printing discovery, processing out of custody arraignments, calendar court dates, pulling files, creating files, closing out case files, answering phones, etc. The department is recommending that the Board approve the emergency appointment for approximately 60 additional days, through the end of the 2015 calendar year. At that time, the Placerville Office should have 2 full time support staff and will no longer need the extra-help position.
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The Public Defender's Placerville Office has typically been supported by 3 support staff. Most recently, the support staff has been comprised of two Legal Secretaries and 1 Legal Office Assistant (LOA) who provide assistance to the 9 attorneys in the Placerville office. The Legal Office Assistant retired as part of the Early Separation Incentive in October 2015, but had been out of the office for a period of time before that separation date. This LOA position could not be filled upon the retirement of the employee, as the allocation was deleted during the Fiscal Year 2015/2016 budget proceedings. The Department received notice near the end of September that one of its remaining two support staff in the Placervi...
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