Commissioners appoint new public defender

At the August 5 county commissioners meeting, the decision was made to appoint Stacy C. Nossaman-Petitt as the county’s public defender and Lindsay R. Snyder as the county’s Guardian Ad Litem.

On May 2, 2014, Kovarik, Ellison, and Mathis, P.C. presented the county commissioners with a proposal for the taking on of 100 percent of the juvenile defense cases as well as 50 percent of the Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) cases. They had an office in Kimball on Chestnut and were very eager to be Kimball County’s choice for this work. They put in a bid of $145,000 annually for this work. That would be roughly $12,000 per month.

At the commissioners meeting on August 5, the commissioner’s legal counsel and member of the public defender policy committee, Robert Brenner, sat before the commissioners to discuss potential public defenders. In addition to the bid made by Kovarik, Ellison, and Mathis, P.C., there was a bid made by Attorney Stacy C. Nossman-Petitt, for the position of public defender. Another bid was made for the available GAL position by Lindsay R. Snyder.

Petitt’s proposal for the position of county public defender would be $5,000 per month, or $60,000 annually. This proposal was not made lightly as her correspondence explained she reviewed the numbers provided to her by Brenner concerning the position’s case load. Her proposal includes all related expenses to the job she would be taking.

After Petitt’s proposal was considered, Brenner moved on to Snyder’s proposal for the GAL position. Snyder estimated that for $2,300 a month, or $27,600 annually, she could perform this job and cover all necessary travel and other expenses related to this position.

After all the proposals were reviewed, Brenner made a suggestion that the county commissioners accept the proposals of Petitt and Snyder. At that point, Matthew Thurmin, an attorney with Kovarik, Ellison and Mathis, P.C. spoke up, questioning whether or not Petitt and Snyder had all the information.

“I’m just wondering if they had all the information concerning the annual case numbers? Our proposal took all those numbers into account. Can I ask whether or not that proposal includes all their travel expenses, because they wouldn’t be local,” Thurmin said.

Thurmin’s concern was echoed by the commissioners after which Brenner reassured them of Petitt’s and Snyder’s awareness.

“Both mention in their correspondence that they have calculated in other expenses, such as travel and postage. They had all the same information that the Kovarik Firm had at their disposal,” Brenner said.

Thurmin then brought to the attention of the commissioners a potential problem with hiring a public defender that was not local.

“A lot of the time, the clients of a public defender are unable to drive they can’t make appointments due to that fact, especially if they have to be in Scottsbluff. So as a result they are forced to have a brief correspondence with their defender right before a hearing. Our location, we are right there on the main street and local, we can serve those who have issues traveling,” Thurmin said.

After Thurmin explained the benefits of having a local public defender, Brenner reiterated the benefits of the other proposals.

“Both Snyder and Petitt have good experience and for $7,300 a month for, they’ll be signing a two year contract, so for two years that’s good for the county for the budget,” Brenner said.

Ultimately, the commissioners decided they would appoint Petitt as the county public defender and Snyder as the GAL. This means the county will be spending $87,600 on their public defense annually for the next two years.