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Findings and Recommendations 2 findings
F1
J. Steven Worthley The Tulare County Public Defender's Office exceeds the standards set by the Dir*rict Four United States Department of Justice on Standards for both Felony and Misdemeanor caseloads per attorney. Mike Ennis District Five Response: The Board of Supervisors agrees with the finding. 米
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Despite the additional burden of 200 Misdemeanor cases, there is no evidence CLERK OF that the Public Defender may not adequately represent their clients; however, the THE BOARD Tulare County Grand Jury recommends that staff be hired to accommodate the Michelle Baldwin additional case loads Chief Clerk 釆 Administration Blda. 2800 West Burrel Visalia, CA 93291 Response: The recommendation has not yet been implemented but will be considered for future implementation as allowed by budgetary considerations. All County departments experienced budget cuts during the recession which resulted in position allocations being held vacant, and step and merit increases being suspended. The Board of Supervisors restored step and merit increases in FY 2011/12 and provided a 3% increase to attorneys in FY 2013/14. The Public Defender has one attorney position held vacant for budgetary purposes. The ability to unfreeze the vacant position and/or add new position allocations will be determined by future County revenues. With unknown potential impacts of the drought on future property tax revenues, a specific timeframe cannot be provided at this time.
F2
BOARD STAFF The current pay scale has not been increased for several years. Julieta Martinez Response: The Board of Supervisors disagrees with the finding. Allison Pierce In FY 2008/09, attorneys received a 3% increase that was blended from attorneys I through V. In FY 2013/14, attorneys received another 3% increase. 米
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Tulare County Grand Jury recommends that the current pay scale be increased. Response: The recommendation has not yet been implemented but will be considered for future implementation as allowed by budgetary considerations. In FY 2008/09, attorneys received a 3% increase that was blended from attorneys I through V. The Board of Supervisors restored step and merit increases in FY 2011/12, and provided a 3% increase to attorneys in FY 2013/14. Additionally, attorneys receive step and merit increases that are accelerated as compared to other positions in the County; they are eligible to receive salary increases every six months between an Attorney I, Step 1 through an Attorney V, Step 2 level. Sincerely, Phillip A. Cox, Chairman Tulare County Board of Supervisors LAW OFFICES OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER County of Tulare Lisa Bertolino Thomas McGuire Public Defender Assistant Public Defender Porterville Office Visalia Office Juvenile Office 633 N. Westwood Courthouse Room G-35 Juvenile Justice Center Porterville, CA 93257 11200 Ave. 368, Room 103 221 S. Mooney Blvd. (559) 782-6960 Visalia, CA 93291 Visalia, CA 93291 Fax: (559) 782-3936 (559) 636-4500 (559) 735-1435 Fax: (559) 733-6113 Fax: (559) 713-3229 July 17, 2014 S. Mooney Blvd. Visalia, CA 93277 The Honorable Judge Gary Paden County Civic Center, Room 303 Visalia, CA 93291 Tulare County Board of Supervisors 2800 W. Burrel Ave. Visalia, CA 93291 To the Honorable Judge Gary Paden, Tulare County Grand Jury Members and Tulare County Board of Supervisors: First I would like to thank the Grand Jury members for choosing to investigate the workings of the Office of the Public Defender for your 2013/14 report. The services that our office provides to the citizens of Tulare County are a critical component of our justice system, and I am proud of the quality representation that this office provides. Following is my response to the findings and recommendations made in the 2013/14 report pursuant to Penal Code sections 933(c) and 933.05:
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.