Short-Staffed, Douglas County Hires Bayfield County’s Next DA To Temp

Before Bayfield County’s incoming district attorney takes over early next year, she will be cutting her teeth next door in Douglas County. The county hired Kim Lawton to take on cases part-time in an effort to address challenges they’ve had clearing their caseload due to turnover in the short-staffed office.

The temporary hire is an unconventional way of dealing with what local officials say is a chronic and widespread issue.

A state analysis of the workload at the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office shows they have enough cases to merit hiring six full-time positions and one part-time prosecutor, according to outgoing DA Dan Blank. Currently, the office has 2.5 employees after the recent resignation of assistant DA Erica Ellenwood.

“We’ve gone years and years and years where prosecutors haven’t gotten raises. We’ve had turnover like crazy in prosecutor ranks statewide,” Blank said. “We’ve gone year after year with short-staffing in prosecutors and support staffing in county offices. It is going to come crashing down on us one of these days.”

Blank said Lawton is his tenth hire in the last seven years. The state’s most recent analysis for district attorneys’ workloads shows counties are short about 140 prosecutors. Bayfield County has one district attorney although the analysis shows the workload is closer to that of two prosecutors. Lawton said she jumped at the opportunity to learn the ropes in Douglas County before stepping into her full-time role. She’s running uncontested in November’s election and will assume the office early in 2017.

“Right now, being in a truly under-staffed office, I think it helps me to understand how quick things actually need to happen,” she said.

Lawton said it was also an opportunity to build relationships with nearby counties.

“I’m excited to serve the people of Bayfield County … and I also intend on helping out a little bit in Ashland County as well and doing some special prosecution in Ashland County,” she said. “That experience will only benefit my skills and, ultimately, the public.”

But the opportunity for Lawton is also a sign of the stress on district attorney offices, Blank said. In the latest budget cycle, the State Prosecutors Office requested 516 positions — an increase from the roughly 430 prosecutors statewide, but Gov. Scott Walker didn’t recommend funding for more prosecutors in his last budget. Lawmakers have taken some steps to address compensation in recent years and suggested pay increases in the 2015-2017 budget.

Blank has proposed adding a paralegal in the county’s next budget, but he said shrinking resources at the local level pose a challenge.

“There’s no money in the county to add staff to the DA’s office to help support the prosecutors that are under-staffed,” he said.

To him, the solution either involves raising taxes or reallocating resources, but Blank doubted there’s enough political will to support either option. In the meantime, he said they’re prioritizing cases, which means they either decriminalize some offenses or can’t get to cases that should be addressed.