By Brown County is taking steps to create a public defender’s office to provide court-appointed attorney services for indigent criminal defendants.
Chairman Duane Sutton shared details about the plan during the regular Brown County Commission meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at the courthouse annex.
“A few weeks ago, we did not accept a proposal for ongoing indigent counsel contract, and we are looking into creating a public defender’s office,” he said.
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On July 30, commissioners rejected a two-year contract from seven local attorneys that would’ve cost the county $850,000 for 2025 and $900,000 for 2026.
Brown County will still need a one-year contract for court-appointed attorney work during 2025 before the public defender’s office is established. Commissioners approved a request for proposals that will be opened on Oct. 11.
Sutton
“That would give us time to come up with what we need to get the word out on the public defender’s office,” Sutton said. “The plan at this time is to have one lead public defender, then three additional attorneys to work under that defender, along with two support staff. So it would be an office of about six people.”
He said state law allows counties to create a public defender’s office and provides a framework for doing so.
Minnehaha, Pennington and Lawrence counties already have public defender’s offices.
Advisory committee must oversee public defender’s office
The office must be overseen by an advisory committee that includes a public defender. Sutton said Brown County’s committee needs to include two county commissioners, two local attorneys and one resident who cannot be a county employee or law enforcement officer.
Two people have been interviewed and have declined to be on the committee because of scheduling conflicts, Sutton said. He said the county will provide information to any citizen who hopes to be on the committee.
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State law requires counties to cover the costs of court-appointed attorneys for indigent defendants. Those people then have to repay the county.
Tight finances are one reason Brown County is moving to create a public defender’s office. It will allow the county to know how much court-appointed defense work will cost each year.
The salary of the public defender will be $140,000. In the interest of fairness, commissioners decided to increase the salary of Brown County State’s Attorney Karly Winter from $115,000 to $140,000.
In other action, the commission:
- Set a public hearing for the Brown County Highway Department’s five-year road and bridge plan during the Oct. 1 county commission meeting.
- Recognized the contributions of Mavis Kempf, who died last week. She was a longtime worker in the county welfare office.