Renville County attorney asks to increase staffing due to high caseload – West Central Tribune
OLIVIA
— The Renville County attorney’s Office has managed to chip away at a COVID-era backlog of criminal cases, but its staff is handling caseloads two to three times greater than other, comparable-sized rural counties.
Kelsie Kingstrom
Contributed
Renville County attorney Kelsie Kingstrom asked the
County Board of Commissioners
to add a new attorney position in her office to handle criminal matters as the county prepares the coming year’s budget. She made her request to the commissioners on Sept. 19 while also pointing out that it will likely be a challenge to recruit a new attorney.
Kingstrom told the commissioners that county attorneys in rural counties across the state typically are managing around 100 or more gross misdemeanor and felony cases at any given time. The count in neighboring Redwood County is around 120 cases for each of five attorneys, she said.
In Renville County, Kingstrom has a staff of three, including herself. Kingstrom and Assistant County attorney David Torgelson handle criminal cases. Beth Pullan manages cases involving child welfare and other non-criminal matters.
Kingstrom currently is handling 198 cases, or roughly double the average for rural counties. Torgelson is handling 380 cases, or triple the average.
Kingstrom is no stranger to a large caseload. When first appointed county attorney in April 2022, the office had what she termed a “humongous” caseload totaling 680.
She has since then implemented a policy of not accepting plea agreements unless the defendant agreed to plead guilty to the first, or most severe, of the charges in a complaint. That policy increased the caseload, but Kingstrom said the office has since been able to reduce the backlog.
There’s currently a “lull” in the number of cases going to trial, she told the commissioners.
Attorneys are managing the caseload and meeting standards, but she expressed concern about the long-term sustainability of doing so.
Kingstrom also told the commissioners that this will be a difficult time to recruit a new attorney, if they approve the position. Salaries offered by many rural county attorney offices are not matching those now available for attorneys practicing with public defender offices or elsewhere.
Perhaps the biggest challenge, she said, is that of recruiting an attorney to a rural location. The state’s law schools are located in the metropolitan area. An attorney can accept a position in the metropolitan area without making a major move.
Taking a rural position requires a life change and a significant move, one that is increasingly difficult to make. The challenges of finding a home, child care and educational opportunities are more difficult in rural areas, she pointed out.
Adding an attorney will also require that the county add office space or relocate the office and its staff. Kingstrom said it is important to keep all of the staff in one location. While she and her staff do work remotely at times, she said it is important they have office space available near the courthouse.
She estimates that it will cost $119,000 to add an attorney to the office. There’s a rough estimate of $70,000 for the costs of expanding the office, but no estimate for the option of relocating the office in the County Office Building.
Kingstrom’s meeting with the commissioners came on the day that the
Minnesota Judicial Branch
released the 2023 performance evaluation. It found that the district courts have been reducing the COVID-era backlog of cases. It cited District 8, of which Renville County is a part, for its ability to do so.
Tom Cherveny is a regional and outdoors reporter for the West Central Tribune.
He has been a reporter with the West Central Tribune since 1993.
Cherveny can be reached via email at tcherveny@wctrib.com or by phone at 320-214-4335.
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