Commissioners, Prosecutor Work Toward Agreement

DAYTON— On Oct. 13, Columbia County Prosecuting Attorney Rea Culwell came before the Board of County Commissioners to pitch a fifth proposal for uses of an Office of Crime Victims Advocacy grant.

Following Culwell’s presentation, the BOCC conferred with their court-appointed attorney W. Dale Kamerrer, and in a letter to Culwell, dated Oct. 14, they reiterated, in part, their former stance allowing the use of OCVA grant monies to increase the deputy prosecuting attorney’s salary and hours.

In that letter they also authorized Culwell’s request to hire a legal assistant, for up to 40 hours per week, which will be at the 2016 wage rate, and is subject to any salary adjustments made by the board in the annual budgeting process for 2017.

The letter from the BOCC also says that the legal administrator’s pay, which is currently an hourly rate of $17.57, will be converted to salary in 2017 at the rate adopted by the board in their annual budgeting process.

The commissioners told Culwell that if any of the OCVA grant funds can be used for the cost of the additional hours, over the 35 hours worked by the legal assistant, or any 2017 increase, approved by the BOCC, in the salary of the DPA or the LA, they will approve the use of those funds.

The board went on to say that their agreement to the adjustments does not mean that they will not have to consider the effect of the cost of supporting the contract with the city of Dayton, following Culwell’s refusal of her office to perform the prosecution services called for in their interlocal agreement with the city.

Culwell’s response to the letter was mixed. She said she accepts the BOCC’s partial approval of the OCVA spending plan, in that they are willing to approve a salary increase for the legal administrator for 2017.

However, she said it is not acceptable for them to not approve an OCVA spending plan for 2016, or to not approve funds for training and implementation of InfoNet, a state required web-based data collection system.

Culwell said that the fiscal year for the grant runs from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, and she said that about $15,000 would be left on the table in Olympia.

“The taxpayers of Columbia County, particularly crime victims, deserve an answer as to why they refuse to bring that money into the community,” Culwell said.

Speaking before the commissioners on Oct. 13, Culwell pointed out that RCW statutes allow for formal adoption by resolution of unanticipated federal or state funds, which are outside the budget that is fixed, and adopted in detail, by the board of county commissioners, for the ensuing fiscal year.

Culwell’s latest proposal is that the money from the grant be used to increase the deputy PA’s hours from thirty to forty, and to increase his work duties to include overseeing the PA Office’s victim/witness program.

Culwell also proposed increasing the salary of the legal administrator, effective Jan. 1, 2017, to correspond with increasing duties of the position, including training and supervision of the legal assistant’s victim/witness activities, and development and maintenance of InfoNet, which is a required web based data collection system.

Culwell asked for their approval to fill the vacant legal assistant position, and for an increase in salary for that position, effective Jan. 1, 2017, which would correspond with increasing work duties regarding InfoNet.

Raising salaries for the legal administrator and legal assistant fulfills the intent of the grant to “attract and retain” qualified victim/witness advocates, Culwell said at the meeting.

Culwell said she would like the additional funds available for the remainder of 2016 to be used to pay for overtime for the deputy PA and legal administrator. She said that when the legal assistant position is filled, grant funds can be rolled into the proposed increases in hours/salaries.

No overtime pay will be available through the grant after December 31, 2016, unless otherwise agreed upon, she told them.

Culwell went on to say that filling the legal assistant position would allow her office to resume legal financial obligation collections and enforcement, court facilitator work, and more timely consideration and prosecution of county code violations, all of which were suspended by her office on Sept. 6.

Culwell said that because of the ongoing lawsuit with the City of Dayton, she cannot address, with specificity, the issues of city misdemeanor prosecutions, and that prosecuting in the name of the city could lead to a conflict of interest to her constitutional and statutory obligation to represent the county in all actions.

In making her plea to the commissioners, Culwell said, “I have addressed your concerns about not changing salaries in the middle of the year. So my suggestions are that the increase in salaries and hours take place Jan. 1.”

“I think I have addressed your concerns about what if the grant goes away, with the promise that I will not seek replacement of the funds from county funds. I will sign a contract. My employees will sign a contract,” Culwell said.

I have detailed in the memo, the additional work that’s going to be required of all employees, and I can change their job descriptions so that they are official,” Culwell added.

With regard to providing services to the city, Culwell said that, with a full staff, her office is “ready, willing, and able” to prosecute those misdemeanors occurring within city limits, and that prosecutions by her office would have to exclude city code violations.

“The best for the community is we bring this money in and get the information on InfoNet, and we don’t lose out on this…” Culwell said.

When asked by Commissioner Merle Jackson what effect this would have on the city of Dayton’s lawsuit against the county, Culwell told them, “I think you can look at this separate from the lawsuit, and bring the money in.”

Earlier this year the state and federal government funding sources announced a policy to strengthen victim/witness assistance program activities, and all prosecuting attorney offices in Washington were awarded increases in state contribution for victim services beginning on July 1, 2016, through the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy. The contracts with the State increased money paid to Columbia County by $30,825, according to Culwell.

In August the BOCC approved the following, partial use, of monies from the OCVA grant:

Increasing the DPA’s hours by five with a corresponding salary increase to reflect the additional five hours.

Hiring and training a new person, up to forty hours a week to replace the legal assistant, and setting that salary at $17.57 per hour.

Allowing 5% to be used for administrative costs with audit expenses deducted from the grant.

The sticking point has been a disagreement about using money from the grant to increase the salary of the legal administrator, who is a county employee. The commissioners have stated that salary increases for county employees are reviewed during the budgeting process.

In an e-mail to the commissioners dated August 18, Culwell said that if her requests were not met by noon the following Thursday, she would not require the legal administrator to implement and comply with new OCVA database requirements and billing procedures, and billing would not be done for the first quarter of the OCVA grant, nor for the second quarter of the OCVA grant.

She also said legal financial obligation enforcement/collection for superior court, as well as the services of court facilitator, would no longer be performed, and that non-domestic violence or non-DUI/physical control cases, as well as city code violations, would no longer be prosecuted for the city.

The City of Dayton responded by filing a temporary restraining order against the county, the PA, and her office, requiring them to provide prosecutorial service to the city, as required by a decade-old interlocal agreement between the city and the county.

The city has recently withdrawn the TRO in hopes that a ninety-day cooling off period will allow the parties to reach workable solutions, and city attorney Quinn Plant has said that revising the interlocal agreement is under consideration.

At the Oct. 10 meeting of the Dayton City Council, Mayor Craig George said the city attorney is working on a list of suitable candidates to submit to the county, so that the city can continue to receive prosecutorial services as provided by the interlocal agreement.

On Oct. 14 the BOCC drafted a letter to the City of Dayton Mayor Craig George, notifying him of their intent to terminate the interlocal agreement, effective one year from the date of the letter, and agreed to begin negotiations with the city for a new interlocal agreement.