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<br />CASS COUNTY <br />GOVERNMENT <br />..I.. <br /> <br />State's Attorney <br /> <br />Birch P. Burdick <br /> <br />Assistant State's <br /> <br />Attorneys: <br /> <br />Mark R. Boening <br />Tracy J. Peters <br />Lori S. Mickelson <br />Lisa K. McEvers <br />Trent W Mahler <br />Aaron G. Birst <br />Earle R. Myers, Jr. <br />Leah J. Viste <br />Reid A. Brady <br /> <br />Victim/Witness <br />Coordinators: <br /> <br />Brenda Olson-Wray <br />Debbie Tibiatowski <br /> <br />Check Division/ <br />Restitution: <br /> <br />Linda Workin <br />Charlotte Johnson <br /> <br />Box 2806 <br />211 Ninth Street South <br />Fargo, North Dakota 58108 <br /> <br />PH: 701-241-5850 <br />Fax: 701-241-5838 <br /> <br />March 29, 2004 <br /> <br />Cass County Commission <br />Cass County Courthouse <br />Fargo, NO <br /> <br />Re: <br /> <br />Additional Budget Request - <br />Temporary Attorney Staffing <br /> <br />Dear Commissioners: <br /> <br />I have 9 assistant prosecutors in my office. Two of those prosecutors <br />are pregnant and are scheduled to give birth within a couple of weeks <br />of one another. Both are experienced prosecutors and the leaders of <br />their respective teams. Both anticipate using 12 weeks of related leave <br />consistent with the opportunities provided under county policy. That <br />leave is likely to begin this spring and continue through the summer. <br /> <br />Our normal policy is to do our best with existing staff to cover for <br />temporary staffing shortages arising due to vacation and illness. We <br />have studied the situation in our office and believe we are unable to <br />adequately cover for two attorneys that are each absent for 12 weeks <br />of largely overlapping time. <br /> <br />This situation was not addressed in my original 2004 budget request <br />because this staffing situation was not foreseen at that time. <br /> <br />We have reviewed a number of approaches we could use to help fill in <br />for the missing attorneys. Those approaches include, among others, <br />the following: <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Summer law clerk: Our budget already contains a line <br />item for one summer law clerk. We typically hire one law <br />student during the summer. The Supreme Court allows <br />law students with sufficient training to spend time in court <br />while supervised by an attorney who is present with them. <br />We have lined up our currently allotted law clerk for the <br />summer. I would like to hire a second law clerk for this <br />summer to address the above-stated need. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Part-time Attorney: We have an attorney in child support, <br />