Archive: News

The County Legislature on Tuesday considered adoption of task force recommendations on the future of indigent representation in Tompkins County.  Adoption of the Task Force Report on Indigent Representation in Tompkins County is recommended by both the Legislature’s Public Safety Committee and the County’s Advisory Board of Indigent Representation.

The Assigned Counsel/Public Defender Analysis and Review Task Force was created last November, charged with exploring benefits and costs of an recommending the most effective way to deliver legal services to county residents who cannot afford representation—including analysis of a public defender model, either replacing or being incorporated into the County’s current Assigned Counsel system.

Culminating many months of study and analysis, the task force, in its extensive report to the Legislature, finds that the current Assigned Counsel Program “provides quality indigent representation at a reasonable cost to this community, (representing) a better alternative to a public defender’s office, a legal aid society, or any combination thereof.”

The report, however, also recommends improvements to the existing system—including more formal oversight in program administration, attorney performance, vouchering and client eligibility; greater efficiency in coordinating Assigned Counsel cases within local courts; and implementation of a formal attorney mentoring program. 

The task force also calls for the County to explore contracting for institutional representation in the county’s “specialty courts” (drug courts, integrated domestic violence court, family treatment court, and sex offender court), given those courts’ unique attorney requirements.  The task force notes that its work occurs at a time when the State Legislature is considering proposed legislation to mandate a statewide public defender system which it says would produce “substantial local cost with loss of local control.”

The seven-member task force includes attorneys Raymond Schlather (chair), Heather Bissel, Kelly Damm, and William Furniss, Jr.; Legislators James Dennis and Martha Robertson; and Deborah Dietrich, executive director of the organization Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources.  County Administrator Joe Mareane served as a staff resource to the task force.

The task force’s 38-page report may be viewed online at the County’s website.  The full report, including appendices, is available for review at the County Legislature Office at the County Courthouse, 320 N. Tioga Street, Ithaca.

____
v5i40