photo by: Rochelle Valverde

Commission Vice Chair Shannon Reid, Commission Chair Shannon Portillo, and Commissioner Patrick Kelly listen to County Administrator Sarah Plinsky discuss a process for reviewing competing proposals to provide public defense as part of the commission's meeting on Nov. 3, 2021.

Douglas County leaders expressed concerns Wednesday related to a proposal from a group of local attorneys interested in providing public defender services for people who are accused of crimes and cannot afford attorneys.

The proposal, from a group of local attorneys under the title Douglas County Defense Services, is the second such proposal the county has received in recent months. Both proposals are from groups of attorneys seeking county funding to provide public defender services for people accused of misdemeanor offenses, which the county currently funds through a different process. As part of its meeting Wednesday, the County Commission discussed a process to review the two proposals, with some commissioners expressing reservations about how the second proposal came about.

The county received the proposal from DCDS on Oct. 1, several months after receiving a similar request this spring from another group of attorneys, Kansas Holistic Defenders. In March, the county established a work group to discuss indigent defense in the community. Commission Chair Shannon Portillo said two attorneys who had been a part of the work group are among those involved in the most recent proposal from DCDS, but had not mentioned that until asked.

“I just want to voice my concern around the ethics of transparency in being a part of that work group as we move forward with considering these proposals,” Portillo said.

Portillo noted that the work group also included Sam Allison-Natale, who is chair of KHD, and that KHD’s proposal was also discussed publicly as part of the commission’s budget process this summer. The county did not solicit proposals for the services, but in response to KHD’s request set aside $425,000 in its 2022 budget to support misdemeanor public defense. The $425,000 allocation has not been finalized.

Commission Vice Chair Shannon Reid said she appreciated Portillo bringing up her concerns. Reid said she had similar concerns about the process and transparency. As a result, she said she would like both attorney groups to provide an overview summarizing the community partners and stakeholders they engaged with in preparing their proposals.

“And I just want to be candid and say that I was surprised to see an additional proposal come in so late in the year after having had more than six months of very public conversation and evolution of the conversation, including in our budget process,” Reid said. “So I do want to voice that concern and ask for some feedback from both groups.”

Commissioner Patrick Kelly said he would like to see a breakdown of how each organization would spend the funding from the county. He said that establishing a new process to provide and fund indigent defense was a significant cost to the county, and that there were notable difference between the proposals.

“So I just want to be really thoughtful about that, and that how we’re spending those dollars aligns with our priorities,” Kelly said.

The county already provides funding for the public defense of misdemeanor cases, while the state funds felony cases. Public defense is currently provided through a panel of private defense attorneys who are appointed by the court to take on individual cases. When it made its proposal, KHD said it would provide the service using a different model that offered broader, holistic support to those accused of crimes. As the Journal-World has reported, some local defense attorneys previously criticized KHD’s proposal. The DCDS group includes some of those same attorneys.

KHD requested $425,000 in county funding for 2022 to provide public defense, which it proposed would be another option in addition to the existing panel. DCDS requested $525,000 in county funding for 2022, as well as other amounts set aside for other related purposes, and proposed that its services replace the current panel. Both proposals are available as part of the county’s agenda packet.

Ultimately, commissioners agreed that they wanted the two attorney groups to follow the same process as other outside organizations that request funding as part of the regular budget process. They agreed to review the proposals and pose questions to the two groups as part of the commission’s meeting on Nov. 17. They also said that they would receive the report from the indigent defense work group the week prior, on Nov. 10, and that information would be important to the discussion.

County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said that process requires organizations to complete a specific form to provide information about the request, what services will be performed, budgetary information and other details. Plinsky said using that process would give the commission more of an “apples to apples” comparison, and if the commission decides to provide funding to one of the attorney groups, then county administration would develop a service agreement.