WARREN — The county can add up to six new employees from the Ohio Public Defenders office to provide indigent representation to common pleas and juvenile courts for a local cost of about $25,500 more than it is currently paying.
Elizabeth Miller, assistant director of the public defenders office, told commissioners Tuesday her office could provide at least the same level of service at a cost of $2 million per year.
The county now spends about $1.4 million per year with a hybrid system that allows common pleas judges to appoint attorneys to represent its indigent defendants.
However, because the state reimburses the county for 96 percent of this cost, Trumbull’s current costs are projected to be $57,000 per year in 2022. Under the proposed agreement with the OPD, the county’s share would be $82,500.
The state is projected to provide a 96 percent reimbursement rate in 2022, with it going down to 94 percent for fiscal year 2023, if the state Legislature approves Gov. Mike DeWine’s two-year budget, Miller said.
The commissioners have until June 30 to decide the direction they would like to go, according to Commissioner Frank Fuda.
Currently, OPD has a contract with Warren Municipal Court and the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center to provide defense for the indigent. The local public defender’s office has eight on staff and 13 independent contractors for the six area courts.
A proposed contract would provide five additional attorneys and a human resources employee for the county’s common pleas and juvenile courts. Having all of the courts covered by the public defenders’ office would allow the same attorneys to follow cases from municipal courts through common pleas and then the appellate courts. when necessary.
Trumbull County had contracts with the OPD from 1984 through 2018. The county went to a hybrid system in 2019. Jim Misocky, the commissioners’ administrator of special projects, said the cost difference between the county’s current system and the OPD’s proposal is the lowest it has been in his memory.
“The Ohio Public Defender’s office is a fixed cost,” Misocky said
Attorney David Rouzzo, who has proposed a Trumbull County public defenders office, has sent the commissioners a written proposal that could save more than $400,000 of county funds per year if commissioners move away from the current hybrid system.
Rouzzo’s proposal would call for a nine-person staff, headed by a director making $96,500 per year plus benefits and four staff attorneys, with salaries ranging from $58,000 to $82,000.
“My proposal keeps most municipal court contractors in the same courts they are currently practicing in at about the same pay rate,” Rouzzo said, noting he used the same state reimbursement rate figures. “There would be no interruption of service at the municipal level.”
Rouzzo formerly directed the Ohio Public Defenders office in the county before opening his private practice in 2019.
“One of the important things for the commissioners and the courts to consider is the experience of the lawyers that would be brought in,” Rouzzo said. “It is important to have some local control and relationship with the judges, the clerks and other lawyers. It take time to build those relationships.”
Rouzzo said if the commissioners consider his proposal, those who will work with him already have those relationships.
“I have experience with felony cases and death penalty cases,” Rouzzo said.
After the OPD’s presentation, Commissioner Niki Frenchko described it as a wonderful option.
“Any service that takes politics out, improves professionalism and, at the same time, creates a more streamline process is exactly what we need. It is a centralized process.
Warren Councilwoman Helen Rucker, D-at Large, told commissioners she supports the OPD proposal, based on its current work in Warren Municipal Court.
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