LAKEPORT, Calif. – In a special Tuesday afternoon meeting, the Board of Supervisors chose to continue working in the short-term with the firm contracted with the county to offer indigent defense services but to pursue a mutual termination agreement due to performance concerns regarding the firm's president.
The board voted 3-1 – with Anthony Farrington voting no and Jeff Smith absent – to pursue a 90-day mutual termination agreement with Lake Legal Defense Services and to direct County Administrative Officer Matt Perry to take necessary actions to ensure continuity in defense for those the program serves.
The decision leaves open the option for the county to continue to work with Lake Legal Defense Services and to negotiate an updated contract.
Lake Legal Defense Services has held the county's indigent defense contract since 2005. The current contract amount is $1,036,500 annually.
The special meeting – which ran 40 minutes – was called last Friday, the day after Stephen Carter, 48, Lake Legal Defense Services' president, was arrested for an early morning break-in in Hidden Valley Lake.
The District Attorney's Office has since filed charges against Carter for felony vandalism and misdemeanor forcible trespass in that case, and with misdemeanors of driving under the influence, providing false information to a peace officer, hit and run and reckless driving due to an Aug. 19 hit and run incident in Lakeport.
For the county, the primary issue has been Carter's performance and ability to run the contract.
Perry told the board Tuesday that he called the meeting after discussing the situation with Board Chair Denise Rushing.
He said that Carter has been unable to perform his responsibilities due to health issues.
In recent months Carter also has missed numerous court appearances, which resulted in a special court hearing in mid-September, at which time the court reassigned several of his cases, as Lake County News has reported.
Exploring options
Perry said Tuesday that he had received a document signed by Stephen Carter allowing his wife, Angela, who also is an attorney, to oversee Lake Legal Defense Services. “It fully empowers her to act on the corporation's behalf.”
Supervisor Rob Brown said he had spoken to Stephen Carter about the issue. “He personally told me that he felt that Angela would be more than qualified to handle the contract issues in his absence.”
Rushing asked county staff for what options were available.
County Counsel Anita Grant said the contract could remain in place, the county could terminate it or could issue a 90-day notice to terminate without cause. The county could continue to follow the same public defender contract model or have a public defender coordinator.
“I’m sure there are other options also that your board could consider as alternatives,” Grant said.
The original 2005 contract states that it may be terminated without cause by either party, at any time, upon the giving of 90 days' advance notice.
Brown said the 90-day termination notice would allow the county to modify the existing public defender contract. Grant agreed that during that 90-day period the county could ask to renegotiate certain terms.
Brown said he wanted to use that 90-day period to come up with the best options they can. “There’s a million things that could happen.”
Supervisor Jim Comstock agreed with Brown that pursuing the 90-day termination notice “might be the best course of action at this time.”
Rushing asked how the county could ensure services are continued if it chose the three-month termination plan.
“The terms of the agreement require that,” said Grant, noting that the contract also speaks to transition of services.
Brown said he spends a lot of time in the local courts. “This program that we have up there is exemplary,” he said. “The judges will tell you that.”
He believed it would be a disservice to the public to go out and rebid the contract, which could open up the possibility of all of the contract's current attorneys – who he said are doing a good job – being replaced.
Angela Carter – who was present for the meeting but did not speak – currently is not among the listed attorneys on the Lake Legal Defense Services Web site, although she's worked for the contract previously along with her husband. In recent years she has focused on raising their young daughter.
While Angela Carter has limited authority on the contract as it is currently, Brown said that was a formality, crediting her with a large measure of the current contract's success and voicing his confidence in letting her guide it forward.
Farrington said he was not going to challenge Brown's sentiments about Angela Carter, adding he also wants continuity of services.
However, Farrington said he was concerned about Stephen Carter's competency and mental capacity with regard to the document giving Angela Carter authority to oversee Lake Legal Defense Services. He was concerned about setting the county up for failure should Stephen Carter later decide to challenge the document.
Brown, noting that an immediate contract determination would be “a disaster,” said the board can still exercise its termination option of the if necessary.
Grant agreed. “It won't tie your board's hands.” She added that the competency issue also can be addressed if necessary.
Attorneys support moving forward
During brief public comment, the board heard support for continuing work with Lake Legal Defense Services.
Attorney Barry Melton, a Lake Legal Defense Services subcontractor who also is past president of the California Public Defenders Association and a retired Yolo County public defender, told the board that there are a number of problems that would arise from attempting to substitute in another entity in place of Lake Legal Defense Services.
The main issue Melton brought up concerned the insurance for all of the attorneys – currently there are 15 listed on the Lake Legal Defense Services Web site – that would be jeopardized.
He said he felt strongly that Angela Carter is qualified to take over the contract administrator duties, adding that he and fellow attorney Mitch Hauptman were available for consultation if needed.
Melton said Angela Carter has demonstrated every quality that's necessary to be a sound administrator.
Hauptman, who has worked as a public defender for 25 years, agreed.
“She’s eminently qualified. She can do the administration. She has my support,” he said.
Attorney Doug Rhoades had worked for Lake Legal Defense Services up until this April, and now works for the Mendocino County Alternate Defender's Office.
He suggested there was nothing to prevent the county from contracting with individual attorneys, as had been the practice up until the late 1990s. He agreed that one of the problems is coordinating payment dates for the insurance that attorneys have to carry.
Rhoades said Angela Carter would have his support, certainly for an interim period.
Noting that there is a “very, very competent” group of defense attorneys working under the current contract, Comstock said he wanted to pursue the 90-day termination notice.
Farrington continued to question the option of continuing the contract on a short-term basis.
“I have discomfort. I would rather have a clean break,” he said, adding that he questioned the document giving Angela Carter the ability to oversee Lake Legal Defense Services. Separately, he brought up issues of transparency about how the contract's money is spent.
While other board members said they understood some of his concerns, they felt that there was a risk to simply cutting off the contract.
Rushing said the question was what action posed the bigger risk – terminating the contract and dealing with insurance issues or allowing Angela Carter to take over the contract.
It is going to take at least 90 days to sort out a matter of so much complexity, Rushing added. “It seems to me we don't want to throw things into chaos.”
Comstock moved to pursue the 90-day termination notice, with Brown asking that the motion allow for two board members – himself and Smith, or alternately Farrington – to help negotiate the updated contract.
The board voted 3-1 on that motion, and also voted 3-1 to direct Perry to take the necessary actions to move forward. Farrington was the dissenting vote both times.
By consensus, the board directed Perry to issue the 90-day termination notice.
Grant told Lake County News after the meeting that the notice hasn't yet been drafted.
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