Franklin County to form its own public defender office

Franklin County is reviving its own public defender office following an apparent breakdown in communication with Benton County.

In a move that formally ends a yearslong partnership to provide constitutionally mandated legal services to indigent criminal defendants, Franklin County’s elected leaders voted unanimously Wednesday to reject a temporary deal with Benton County in favor of creating their own office.

The change will not affect any defendants.

The bicounty skirmish about public defender services hit critical levels last spring.

On June 7, Benton County notified Franklin by letter that it was terminating a 2007 agreement, under which Benton administered the joint office and billed County about $6,500 a month in administrative fees. The joint venture ended Dec. 31.

Matters came to a head Jan. 4 when court proceedings resumed for the first time in the new year and some defense attorneys found themselves working without contracts. That issue has been resolved and no defendants went unrepresented, court officials said.

A week ago, the counties expected to negotiate a three-month deal that would have restored joint operations for February, March and April.

But on Wednesday, Franklin commissioners said Benton County’s terms were unacceptable. Its offer carried a $53,400 price tag for Franklin County, which included $10,500 to train a Franklin administrator and no provision to extend the bicounty agreement beyond April.

The public defenders office isn’t the first bicounty service that could be ending. Previously, commissioners have talked of dissolving the combined human services agency and going their separate ways.

Franklin County officials were surprised but said they’re ready to manage their own public defense work. Franklin County operated its own public defense office prior to the 2007 interlocal agreement that created the Benton & Franklin Office of Public Defense.

“We can stand this up on our own as of Feb. 1,” Franklin County Administrator Keith Johnson told commissioners. Saying there was no need to delay business or spend an extra $10,500 for training, the commission agreed to establish a new office and to hire an attorney contractor to manage it.

Publicly, the counties claim growth means it no longer makes sense to share operations. Benton and Franklin counties are unique in Washington in jointly operating some departments.

But faltering communications contributed to the impasse too, with commissioners in either county hinting the others were an inattentive partner.

“It takes two to have a functioning relationship,” said Brad Peck, Franklin County commissioner.

Benton County Commission Chair Shon Small complained that Franklin officials won’t meet in person to discuss bicounty operations, including the public defense office.

With workloads rising, the county needs to be nimble in how it manages the office, he said. Lack of communication hindered that, he said.

“We owe our constituents a job that’s done at 110 percent. Something has to give,” he said.

Small said that ending the bicounty partnership will improve services to Benton defendants.

The divorce will cost the counties. Benton County will bear the full cost of Eric Hsu’s $100,000-plus salary, which officials said they are prepared to handle.

Franklin County will no longer pay a monthly administrative fee to Benton County. But it will have to hire an attorney to administer its program.

For now, Johnson’s office is managing contracts with the private attorneys. Johnson said the work is manageable, but has led to an uptick in calls to his office from indigent defendants trying to reach their lawyers.

The administrative costs are separate from actual legal work. Franklin County budgeted about $1 million to pay public defenders for services in its 2015 and 2016 budgets.

Benton County allocated $5.1 million for public defense work in its 2015-16 budget.

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Franklin County to form its own public defender office."