photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St., is pictured on Sept. 23, 2021.

During the second day of 2023 budget hearings, the Douglas County Commission learned more about a funding request from the Douglas County District Court for a project designed to help litigants navigate the court system regardless of their ability to pay for legal services.

The court’s request, totaling roughly $170,000, would allow for hiring a court resource specialist and an attorney who would staff what District Court representatives called a self-help center.

The two new positions would be responsible for closing a “justice gap” that Court Administrator Linda Koester-Vogelsang said disproportionately affected low-income households, women, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. It’s been difficult to give people unfamiliar with the court system the direct help they need, Koester-Vogelsang said; meeting that need has traditionally meant redirecting folks to agencies like the Douglas County Legal Aid Society or Kansas Legal Services.

“We knew that we had individuals who came to the court that were looking for help,” Koester-Vogelsang said. “Our court personnel are prohibited by rules — obviously very logical rules, since the courts are an impartial body — from giving legal advice, and it’s very hard for the public to understand what’s legal advice and what’s not legal advice.”

Such legal advice includes a number of common questions court clerks can’t answer, like how to reclaim belongings seized by police or what type of case to file in a civil suit, among many other legal questions.

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that attorneys can provide services meeting such needs to people with whom they’ve yet to form an attorney-client relationship, Koester-Vogelsang said, as long as they’re working through a nonprofit or court program.

Chief Judge James R. McCabria said Wednesday that the attorney hire would know best where the line is between providing general guidance and offering explicit legal advice.

County leaders like Commissioner Shannon Reid seemed interested in the idea.

“I love that this idea has been talked about and formed, and I appreciate the list of folks who have been involved in those conversations so far,” Reid said. “… I appreciate that the court has taken that seriously and is looking to meet a need.”

A tentative timeline from the court notes that the self-help center could be up and running by January of 2023 if additional funding is approved. Koester-Vogelsang said the center would tentatively be located in the court security offices area of the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, per an agreement with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

Commissioners heard more detail about a number of other budget requests:

• District Attorney Suzanne Valdez answered the commission’s questions about a request for $30,000 to hire outside legal counsel for assistance with issues involving human resources, ethics and other policy matters that might arise in the DA’s office.

• Representatives with the economic development arm of The Chamber answered questions about a $200,000 request for startup funds to start a minority business revolving loan fund.

Much like the work sessions that sometimes take place before the commission’s weekly meeting, no action is taken during budget hearings. Those hearings will continue from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday. Commissioners decided to take Friday off and begin their deliberations Monday. Those meetings will also take place from 9 a.m. to noon and will end after a final session Tuesday, July 12. The public can attend all of these sessions in person or via Zoom. The final hearing to adopt the 2023 budget is tentatively set for Aug. 24, according to county staff.

On Tuesday, when the budget hearings began, the conversation largely revolved around fire and medical officials’ requests for nearly $1 million in additional funding.

The proposed budget is available for the public to view online at dgcoks.org/budget, and meeting information regarding the commission’s hearings and deliberations, including recordings of those sessions, is available on the county’s website at dgcoks.org/commissionmeetings.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to add detail about the funding request from the district attorney.