MISSOULA — The two divisions of the Missoula City Attorney's Office are working a growing number of cases while seeking to fill vacant positions at a time when netting qualified candidates remains challenging.
On Wednesday, both the civil division and prosecution laid out their budget requests for the new fiscal year, which included prosecution's request for $23,000 to make on victim witness coordinator full-time.
The civil division is also working on an increasing case load on issues ranging from development to water rights. It currently has 17 open cases involving the city, including police action and trip-and-fall cases.
Ryan Sudbury, City Attorney for Civil Services, said other cities, including Helena and Bozeman, also have a record number of open cases.
“I've discussed with other city attorneys from the larger cities in Montana, and they're having the same experience,” Sudbury said. “I don't know if it's bad luck or something in the air. I don't know what's going on there, but it's definitely taking up more time in our office.
The civil division's $650,000 annual budget isn't expected to change going into the new fiscal year. But finding attorneys to fill vacancies has grown increasingly challenging, Sudbury said.
The office recently posted an open position and netted only a handful of qualified candidates.
“If we had five reasonably good candidates that qualified for interviews, that would make us happy,” he said. “But 10 years ago, it probably would be double that. Most of our projects are long-term and don't work for interns to come in for a few months at a time. For our positions, we are generally looking for a couple of years of experience.”
The prosecution wing of the City Attorney's Office has also found it challenging to fill certain positions at a time when the case load is increasing. While prosecution has enjoyed “good longevity' with most prosecutors, retention in one position has been hard.
Keithi Worthington, City Attorney for Prosecution, said past openings often netted several dozen candidates. Now, receiving five to eight applications would mark success. The reduction in applicants has prompted prosecution to lower the job qualifications.
“For prosecution, we used to request or require two years of experience, just because prosecution work is just so specialized,” said Worthington. “When we found the number of applicants went down, we lowered it to no years of experience, where we'd consider someone without trial or prosecution experience.”
To help fill the gap, Worthington said prosecution works closely with the University of Montana law school. While paid internships “have gone by the wayside,” Worthington said the school's internship program gives law students credits and helps the division manage cases.
“We've been successful with that program, where someone serves for a semester with us. They get good access to what prosecution looks like. One of our employees is a former intern,” Worthington said.
Prosecution is seeking several new budget requests, primarily around case management software and victim services. Worthington said the average active case load for city prosecutors stands at 277 while victim and witness coordinators have an average load of 116 cases.
Prosecution is seeking $23,000 to bring one victim service coordinator to full-time. The coordinators provide services involving domestic violence, sexual assault, protection violations, stalking and indecent exposure, among others.
“The services they provide are pretty intensive,” she said. “It's critical to make early and consistent contact with victims.”
