BENSON -- Swift County Attorney Robin Finke told the Swift County Board of Commissioners Tuesday that the attorney's office personnel was spread too thin for the county workload.
"Based on caseload statistics, we are running up to 155 to 160 cases per attorney, which is a pretty heavy caseload," Finke said in a Wednesday phone interview.
With such a caseload and only two attorneys in the county's office, Finke suggested to the board that another attorney be hired to ease the burden.
In comparison, Finke said most of the counties in the Eighth Judicial District that are similar in size to Swift County have at least two county attorney assistants.
Finke said throughout his time with the county attorney's office, the staff has been asked to take on more responsibilities and cover more legal ground, including working misdemeanor cases as prosecutors for all the cities in the county.
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"It's something that I've kind of been seeing coming here for a while," Finke said. "And with salary negotiations coming before the board right now, it was time to start talking with them about it."
Swift County Auditor Byron Giese said the request from Finke, who will make $66,398 next year based on the 2008 budget, was "kind of 'out of the blue' to us." However, Giese said the board wants to "sit down and look at numbers and see what the cost would be."
Finke said he hopes for another attorney hire by 2009. He said the 2008 county budget is set and that the board needs some time to discuss a future hiring.
"We'll limp by for the next year and hopefully get somebody else on board," he said.
In other Swift County Board business:
- The board approved the tax abatement resolution for ECONAR Inc. after no one attended the scheduled public meeting. The resolution specifies a tax abatement of up to $6,500 annually for up to 10 years.
- A date was set for a public hearing for the financing of East Dublin Dairy LLP. The hearing about the proposed project and industrial development revenue bonds will be at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 6.
