Public defender appointment tabled

A decision on who will be Cheyenne County's first public defender in at least two decades will wait until the New Year.

A public defender policy board, created last summer, reviewed four proposals from attorneys interested in the position and one for a guardian ad litem – a person appointed by the court to represent the interests of a juvenile in court proceedings.

All of the applicants were qualified for the positions, Tom Oliver, a member of the three-person policy board, told Cheyenne County Commissioners this week.

Instead of setting a compensation package for the positions, the policy board asked interested attorneys to submit bids.

For the public defender, bids ranged from $96,000 to $225,000 a year. The guardian ad litem bid was $66,000.

However, not included in the original request for bids was a process for handling possible conflicts of interests in cases. Conflicts could arise when a public defender has previously represented the victim of crime or if a case has multiple co-defendants.

Cheyenne County Attorney Paul Schaub said as a guide, and at the high end, his office estimates up to one-third of cases in the county involve more than one defendant.

Phillip Kelly, a member of the policy board, said bids were not sought for someone to handle conflicts that could arise with the public defender and guardian ad litem because the board didn't know that's what the commissioners wanted at this time.

Commission chairman Darrell Johnson asked if the policy board members would be willing to investigate possible solutions for when conflicts arise.

Kelly said it would likely take a couple of months and the board could make a recommendation after February.

A motion to table the issue until the policy board reports back was unanimously passed.

Also at the meeting:

• Conditional use permits for open pit gravel mines for two properties south of Lodgepole near Interstate 80 were unanimously approved. Merrill and Mary Jo From own one of the properties and Henry Bruns and Richard Bruns own the other.

• An agenda item to appoint Josh Loghry to the Cheyenne County Fair Board was tabled. No representatives from the fair board attended the meeting.

• The next Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 4, in the Commissioners' Room at the Cheyenne County Courthouse.