Public defense launch plan laid out

SANTA CRUZ >> The effort to bring public legal defense services from private contract to under Santa Cruz County’s control moved a step closer to reality Tuesday.

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a transition plan that would maintain a status quo $13 million budget going forward, the same amount currently paid out for a private defense contract due to expire next year. The aim, officials said, is to have the county fully take over defense duties by July 1, 2022.

The county will launch a recruitment process to hire a county public defender next month, pending board approval of the process, with applicant review assistance from an expert advisory panel. Officials are aiming to bring the new-hire on board as early as this fall, though that person would not directly handle public defense cases immediately. It remained unclear Tuesday where the new Public Defender Office would be located physically.

Board Chairman Bruce McPherson, who said he was supportive of the collaborative team effort, asked that more details on the plan to transition case management from the existing office to the new office be shared with the board in the future.

“This is no indication that we are unhappy with the offices of Biggam and Christensen, who have been providing nothing short of outstanding service in their public defender’s office for us,” McPherson said. “This is just a time for the public defender’s office to become included in the county envelope.”

Supervisor Greg Caput, who voted in November to oppose the conversion of the office from private to public, aired concerns about how the change will impact community members receiving defense services.

“I’ve been against the whole transition from the beginning, but at this point, it’s a moot point,” Caput said. “Now, I want to make sure we have a transition that is smooth and that does not impact cases where someone really needs a public defender. Right now, we’re in a time of great confusion with the COVID-19 and court cases being delayed, so I think it’s very important — especially for the people facing a trial coming up or facing some kind of charges that are brought against them — that we did not have people fall between the cracks.”

At the urging of board supervisors, efforts are underway to retain as many attorneys and employees as possible from the primary contracted public defense office since 1975, Biggam, Christensen & Minsloff.

“The most important piece of the new public defender office is going to be the staff that constitutes it. We’ve been working with the staff of the main law firm, met with them three times already to go over the new process and how we’re going to try to bring them on board,” said county principal administrative analyst Sven Stafford said during a presentation to the board. “That includes that they’ll have the right of first opportunity for positions within the new Public Defender’s Office. We expect to provide them with conditional job offers by Sept. 1 of this year. That’ll provide the certainty of employment with them and also provide contract stability and stability of work for the main firm.”

Santa Cruz defense attorney Jay Rorty, speaking during public comment, told the board that the assumption that county office will fit into the same $13 million budget “is going to require a close second look.”

“The key figure in any defender budget is the costper-case, the money actually spent on the clients,” Rorty said. “The greater the operating cost, the fewer funds available for clients.”

The greater the individual case’s cost, the less funding available to be spread across other clients, he said.

County Administrative Office officials will provide the board an update on efforts to create the new county office by the end of August.