LAKEPORT >> After nearly three months, the Lake County Board of Supervisors approved a contract with Lake Defense, Inc (LDI) Tuesday.
The company will provide court-appointed legal representation for the county by subcontracting local attorneys. During a special meeting on Sept. 30, the board approved a 90-day termination notice with Lake Legal Defense Services, which provided public defender services for the county for 14 years, with a 3-1 vote. District 4 Supervisor Anthony Farrington dissented and District 2 Supervisor Jeff Smith was absent from the special meeting. Steven Carter, president of LLDS is no longer able to run the corporation because of a medical condition.
By giving a 90-day notice to the company, renegotiation of the contract remained possible. After consider alternative options, which included contracting directly with individual attorneys, with a consortium of individual attorneys or an existing legal firm, or creating a county public defender office, the supervisors decided to continue with the current model of contracting with a corporation specializing in public defense services.
Angela Carter, Steven”s wife, is the president of LDI. The county”s agreement with LLDS was “used as a basis for the new agreement with several revisions,” Lake County Administrative Officer Matt Perry said.
Changes from the previous contract include a succession section, which authorizes a member of corporation to run the company in the event that Angela is unable to fulfill her duties. To address concerns with transparency, LDI will provide sample sub-contracts and summary accounting documents at the request of the county administrative officer.
In order to ensure attorney qualifications, the county will retain the right to review, reject or preclude any subcontracted or proposed subcontracted attorney if their qualifications are not satisfactory, according to the new agreement. Additionally, performance standards are included in the contract to ensure professional conduct.
Additional compensation for death penalty cases, which will be $75 more during pretrial and trial times.
Furthermore, insurance coverage has been increased by $700,000, totaling $1 million.
The number of subcontractors will remain the same from the LLDS contract, which includes eight felony attorneys, four misdemeanor attorneys, two juvenile delinquency attorneys and two investigators.
With a unanimous vote, the board approved the contract with LDI, with minor language changes for clarification.
The contract will go into effect on Jan. 1.
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.
