Reynolds says rural counties struggling to attract attorneys

BY KEITH LIPPOLDT

klippoldt@gbtribune.com

Barton County Attorney J. Colin Reynolds took office January 13 of this year. Now about 120 days into his term, he addressed the Commissioners at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting.

Much of his discussion was focused on staffing and the difficulty rural areas such as Barton County are having luring attorneys away from larger cities.

“We have had a pretty good time getting things going with the transition,” Reynolds said. “We’ve had a few staff member changes over the last several months. We had two of our senior support staff retire. While that’s good for them, that’s obviously some big changes on my side. I think one had been with the county for 30 years, and with my office for like 20. Another one had been with the office for about 15 years. So some big changes, some big boots to fill. But I’m glad to say we have gotten in some great new staff members. We’re still down one position, but not something that I’m feeling the need to immediately fill. We’re going to let the new staff gel a bit before we start bringing in someone else. But so far, everything is going well.”

Having a good relationship with law enforcement agencies is a priority for all parties and Reynolds said he is very pleased with the relationship he has with Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir and Great Bend Chief of Police Steve Haulmark.

“I think our work with law enforcement, and our other partner agencies, has gone very well,” he said. “We’ve been able to make sure everyone is on the same page and addressing the issues that we’re all dealing with. So I think it is going well there. One thing I’ve been wanting to do for some time is we are starting a regular law enforcement training schedule. My goal is to have at least one training for law enforcement provided by my office at least once a quarter. Our first one is actually scheduled for next month.

“I’ve been working with the sheriff’s office and the police chief to do what we can to help give them the support they need to make their jobs easier as well. We’ve been trying to take advantage of various partner agencies, including both state level and in a couple instances, federal level, to help provide us the resources we need.”

Reynolds stated that he has heard from the jail that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have been at the jail on a regular basis. “Whenever we have ICE holds, which seems to be quite often, those are being honored, and ICE is being very efficient at taking care of those.”

Commissioner Donna Zimmerman discussed the Commissioners stance on eliminating open positions if, and when, possible. She asked, with an open position in his department “could you continue without that position?”

“I can let you know with one of our retirements, we did actually eliminate a position.” he said. “I’ll let you know that money was reallocated towards other salaries. The big issue that we will face going forward is on the attorney side. We have a big shortage of attorneys of all types in this part of the state. With the elimination of that position, that money was reallocated to better balance out attorney salaries to give one of our longest serving attorneys a much needed pay bump that was long overdue, and also used to the hiring of the fourth attorney spot that was filled to deal with the market adjustments of what was needed to bring in a solid, experienced person to fill that spot.”

Reynolds went on to say “We are not filling these spots as many of these older attorneys are aging out. We’re definitely seeing that in the public service side. They’re seeing that in the private sector. And probably the most acute spot we’re seeing it, for terms of the county, is those willing to get on our court appointed contracts. There’s going to be substantial difficulty filling those spots, and when the bulk of our defendants rely on court appointed counsel, that can lead to substantial delays, which is not good for anybody. It’s not good for them, it’s not good for us. It’s certainly not good for victims, because that means that the process is just going to have to take more time, because less attorneys are trying to do the work of more people.”

Reynolds said that he is considering the possibility of creating an internship to possibly bring a law student to Barton County for a summer position, or even possibly longer, “to be able to experience the community and see the benefits of working in this type of community.”

In new business:

• Approved the purchase of a 2024 Chevrolet Malibu LT for the 20th Judicial District Juvenile Services Department, presented by Juvenile Services Director Marissa Woodmansee. The only bid for a mid-size vehicle was submitted by Marmie Ford. The vehicle has under 17,000 miles and the bid came in at $23,195.

Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson made the motion to accept the Marmie bid. It was seconded by Commissioner Barb Esfeld and the motion carried 4-0. Commission Chair Tricia Schlessiger was absent.

• An Approval of Appropriations was submitted by County Clerk Bev Schmeidler for the period of May 6 and ending May 20.

Zimmerman made the motion to accept the Appropriations that was seconded by Hutchinson. The motion carried 4-0.