Volunteers sought for public defender advisory board
Board will recommend candidates for permanent chief public defender
NORRISTOWN » Montgomery County citizens interested in helping to develop best practices for the operation of the county public defender’s office can now apply to be a member of an advisory board that will play a key role in appointing a permanent chief public defender.
“We’re looking for community-wide response to be on this advisory board. We need a robust pool for this,” county Commissioners’ Chairwoman Valerie Arkoosh said during a recent interview.
“Every person in our commonwealth and our country is entitled to a robust defense, whether or not
they have the means to pay for it and a strong and optimally functioning office of the public defender is how we make that happen. This is an opportunity to be a part of that work to ensure that anyone here in Montgomery County has the best opportunity for a good defense and that there’s always going to be that organization there to support them,” Arkoosh added.
The advisory board’s first order of business will be to make recommendations for a permanent chief public defender.
The advisory board will consist of nine volunteer members who will be nominated by an independent committee that is overseeing the selection process.
“The nominating committee will be submitting names to the commissioners for approval to join the advisory board,” county Chief Operating Officer Lee Soltysiak explained.
Once they are appointed, the advisory board members will serve three-year terms.
Officials said the Montgomery County Office of the Public Defender Advisory Board will consist of a variety of community representatives from diverse backgrounds including a licensed attorney who currently practices in Montgomery County; a current or former client of the county’s public defender office; a non-profit CEO, executive director, or senior leader working in areas of mental health, substance use, housing, domestic violence, or veterans affairs; and a community affinity group representative associated with an organization advocating
for causes related to social justice and/or criminal justice reform.
Members of the public are encouraged to apply or submit nominations for the advisory board using an online form at https://www. montcopa.org/FormCenter/ Public-Defender-37/Montgomery-County-Public-Defender-Adviso-404
Paper forms are also available at the online link. The deadline for submission is Friday, July 1, at 5 p.m.
Arkoosh said the nominating committee hopes to receive a large diverse pool of applicants who “bring all different backgrounds, perspectives and expertise.”
“We hope there are attorneys and we hope there are
people with lived experience in the criminal justice system who can convey that perspective in what they’re looking for from the office of public defender,” Arkoosh said.
The appointment of the advisory board is expected to be finalized by end of summer and members will then begin the process to select a permanent chief public defender and make a recommendation to the county commissioners.
Under state law, the chief public defender and assistants are appointed by the county commissioners. The commissioners hope to appoint a permanent chief public defender by the fall.
In February 2020, former Chief Public Defender Dean M. Beer and Deputy Chief Public Defender Keisha Hudson were let go from their posts during a shakeup in the office. They were replaced by longtime public defenders Carol Sweeney and Gregory Nester who currently serve as interim co-chief deputy public defenders.
At the time, the commissioners said in a statement that they support justice reform and “remain wholly committed to supporting the vitally important work of the Public Defender’s Office and their dedication to defending the Constitutional
rights of indigent individuals accused of violating the law.”
The recommendation for the formation of an advisory board to select a permanent chief public defender was a key component contained in a May 2021 report, “Strengthening the Office of Public Defender,” developed by the Temple University Beasley School of Law’s Sheller Center for Social Justice as part of a
$30,000 contract awarded by the county commissioners in July 2020.
The center was tasked with helping to develop best practices for the governance and operation of the public defender’s office under the current legal framework in Pennsylvania.
Currently, officials explained, Pennsylvania does not independently fund public defender offices through state budgets, leaving counties with the responsibility of funding those offices and there’s no requirement that counties do it in the same manner.
Absent a change in state law, Arkoosh said, “we are working to balance the office’s independence with the county’s oversight role.”
“We asked the Sheller Center at Temple to come in and take a look at our office and give us recommendations on how we could implement best practices given the statutory requirements that we’re operating under here in Pennsylvania,” Arkoosh explained. “We’re looking to lead with best practices. We are now implementing them to give our public defender’s office as much independence as possible under existing commonwealth law.
“One of the most important recommendations of that report is that we create an advisory board that would oversee several functions of the office, most importantly of which is to make recommendations for candidates to serve as the chief defender,” Arkoosh added.
While the advisory board will make a recommendation, under state law, the county commissioners must approve that hire.
The advisory board will be tasked with providing the commissioners with at least two candidates for the chief public defender’s post.
Officials said the advisory board also will be able to recommend to the commissioners a dismissal of a chief public defender should that become an issue, offer guidance about how the office operates and advocate for criminal justice reforms to support the mission of the office.
“I think there’s a lot of great opportunity that could come from this because it will be a group of people whose sole function will be to focus on that office and potential opportunities for reform in the
county,” Arkoosh said. “They could work with the leadership in the office to advocate for funding in the budget process for specific programs or other things like that with that goal being best practices.”
Arkoosh said it’s important that the office of the public defender can provide the most robust defense of their clients possible and that “our community has faith and trust in that office that that is exactly what they’re doing” free from either judicial or political influence.
“Given the constraints that we operate under in Pennsylvania, creating this advisory board is a way to help instill that confidence that we are enabling this office to be as independent as they can be under our existing circumstances,” Arkoosh said.
Previously, a five-member nominating committee was formed to begin the process to establish the independent advisory board. The nominating committee began meeting in early April.
That committee includes Keir Bradford-Grey, partner at Montgomery McCracken, who is a former county chief public defender and also was the chief defender of the Defender Association of Philadelphia; Joseph P. Walsh, founding member of Walsh Pancio and a former county judge; Anna M. Durbin, a criminal defense lawyer; Deah Gerard-May, president NAACP Ambler Branch; and Dr. Vernon Ross, Jr., who is director of inclusion & diversity at SAIC, a technology and engineering company, and is a member of the faith community.
“We tried to have a nominating committee that represented a number of different constituencies across the county. This nominating committee will recommend a group of people to serve on this advisory board,” said Arkoosh.
The commissioners will still have to approve the members of the advisory board.
“But it’s a step at creating some independence for the office,” Arkoosh said.
Donna Richemond, Montgomery County’s chief of diversity, equity and inclusion, Alana Hook, chief of policy and social services for the public defender’s office, and Yvonne Montgomery, senior assistant solicitor, are serving as nonvoting members of the nominating committee.
“We hope there are attorneys and we hope there are people with lived experience in the criminal justice system who can convey that perspective in what they’re looking for from the office of public defender.”
— County Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh