OFFICE OF COUNTY ATTORNEY 2015 ANNUAL REPORT. Kimberly A. Nass Washington County Attorney

Transcription

1 OFFICE OF COUNTY ATTORNEY 2015 ANNUAL REPORT Kimberly A. Nass Washington County Attorney Presented December 8, 2015

2 HISTORY AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE The Wisconsin Legislature authorized the creation of a Corporation Counsel's Office in order to provide specialized legal services to the County Board of Supervisors, its committees and County departments. The duties of the Corporation Counsel are outlined in 59.42, Wis. Stats. Unlike a District Attorney, who is primarily responsible for criminal prosecution, the Corporation Counsel serves the County Board and its committees as a priority. Although the statutory designation for the position is Corporation Counsel, in Washington County, the Corporation Counsel s Office was renamed many years ago to the Office of County Attorney. This designation provides the general public a better understanding of the office s role in county government. The County Attorney s client is the County which is an organization acting through its duly authorized constituents (SCR 20:1.13.) On a daily basis, the County Attorney acts as the civil and business lawyer for the county. By statute, the duties of the office are many. The County Attorney provides the kind of legal advice that a private attorney would provide to any large business or organization. This includes providing advice, counseling and legal representation in all employment matters, including worker's compensation, unemployment compensation and fair employment practices. The County Attorney provides day-to-day services to all county officials, agencies, departments, and in certain cases, the County Attorney represents the interests of the public. Like other business lawyers, the County Attorney is involved in a variety of matters such as real estate transactions and contracts for the purchases of goods and services and the construction of County buildings or other public works. When requested, the County Attorney provides legal opinions which have the same force and effect as opinions of the District Attorney, except as relating to election law. Although Washington County is insured, the County Attorney retains primary responsibility to defend all lawsuits brought against the county, its officers, agents and employees. The County Attorney supervises services provided by outside legal counsel and monitors services provided by defense counsel retained by the County s insurance company. All major decisions in legal disputes and active litigation are reviewed with the County Attorney, with the best interest of the County in mind. Conversely, when the County is required to sue, the County Attorney conducts the litigation. When outside counsel is retained, the County Attorney manages litigation. Page 2 of 11

3 Like the District Attorney, the County Attorney is a prosecutor. The County Attorney enforces county ordinances, including regulations set forth in the county shoreland, wetland, floodplain, sanitary and stormwater management codes and certain health codes. Guardianships and protective placements involving the developmentally disabled, incompetents and on occasion minors are handled by the office on behalf of county agencies and the state. The County Attorney acts as the state's attorney when prosecuting child support matters, mental commitments and certain juvenile matters, including the termination of parental rights. Appearances by the County Attorney s Office in mental commitment cases are in the interest of the public, reflecting a duty owed to the general public in these matters. The County Attorney's Office continues to assist the Highway Department in Right-of-Way acquisition and condemnation procedures and litigation with an active condemnation caseload. In addition to serving in a traditional attorney's role, the County Board and county administrative staff have called on the County Attorney for assistance. Other legal activities have included project oversight, policy drafting and legislative work. County Attorney staff serve as a general educational resource and have conducted training programs and conferences on legal liability, HIPAA, ethics, public records, open meetings, mental health, child support, guardianships, developmental disabilities, juvenile law, hospital law, land use prosecution and other areas of general legal interest. Audiences have included law enforcement agencies and local and state conference attendees. The County Attorney has served two terms as President of the Wisconsin Association of County Corporation Counsels and has been nominated to serve as an advisor to the State Bar Administrative and Local Government Section. The Child Support Agency is a division of the Office of County Attorney. Supervision and oversight for the Agency is provided by the County Attorney's Office. The Child Support Agency serves the public in providing for the establishment of paternity, enforcement and collection services in certain child support and paternity cases. As a prosecutor, the County Attorney handles paternity and child support matters on behalf of the State of Wisconsin. The County Attorney's Office has a high volume of prosecution work for child support, mental commitment, guardianship and emergency protective placements, with the down-turn in construction, sanitary, shoreland, wetland and floodplain cases have also reduced. Long-term planning considerations continue in an effort to find ways to better manage the office s caseload, improve operations, develop efficiencies, and to better serve the County Board so that important legal projects and initiatives are not delayed. Page 3 of 11

4 Participation in the Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation has reduced the number of uninsured claims; however, uninsured claims such as disputes involving eminent domain, challenges to quasi-judicial decisions, contract disputes and mandamus actions handled by the County Attorney s Office are on the rise. There are also a number of nuisance claims that arise each year that are handled by the County Attorney. The County Attorney's Office asserts the County's interests (on behalf of all County departments) in bankruptcy and foreclosure actions as well. There is a regular flow of bankruptcy and foreclosure actions referred to this office, including tax foreclosures, since the downturn in the economy. This trend continues. OFFICE STAFF The office s staffing levels have remained consistent since 2004 and sufficient at the present time. The office is comprised of the County Attorney, one deputy attorney, two assistant attorneys, an office supervisor, one full-time legal secretary and one part-time legal secretary. In 2012, a reduction in Child Support Agency staff resulted in redistribution of duties among the teams and support personnel. In 2014, staff levels were reduced again. These positions remain unfilled. The Agency is comprised of 13 employees, consisting of a Child Support Supervisor, four Child Support Specialists paired with a support person to make up a "team approach" to case management. There are two financial technicians, one accounting assistant, and one program assistant. Overall, the operations of the Agency, on a day-to-day basis, are well managed by the Child Support Supervisor. The Deputy County Attorney serves as the Program Director for the Agency and one of the Assistant County Attorneys provides legal representation to the Agency, although the position is not 100% dedicated to child support legal matters. NOTEWORTHY ACTIVITIES County Attorney Considerable time spent in 2015 was dedicated to assisting and implementing projects, concepts, policies and procedures created or developed by the Administration Department. In addition, given the significant number of retirements with more than 700 years of collective service and resignations of seasoned County employees in 2015, a substantial amount of time was expended in training new employees across all departments. As reported in prior years, the one-week period immediately prior to the mailing of the County Board agenda continues to be a very busy time for the office. Preparation of the final Page 4 of 11

5 versions of ordinances and resolutions referred by committees requires quick turnaround given the timing of committee meetings and the date of the mailing. The office prepared 90 resolutions and ordinances for the County Board session. Due to the Board s activity in the area of economic development, this office has been tasked with drafting, reviewing or monitoring economic development projects and has, upon request, terminated UCC liens and other ancillary legal work. Economic development matters are sporadic and require immediate attention. During the months of November, December and January, much time is consumed by drafting and reviewing contracts and agreements referred by departments in preparation for the upcoming calendar year. As of the date of this report, the office drafted, reviewed or revised more than 211 contracts or agreements. In cooperation with the County Clerk and County Treasurer, the County Attorney commenced action on several properties with property tax delinquency. Each year, there are a properties in the County that require action to recover delinquent property taxes. In 2015, the County took the tax deed to 23 properties. Although the tax deed process is relatively straightforward, the parcels are unique and often present difficulties implementing the process (i.e. environmental contamination, rental property). Given the state of the economy and the foreclosure activity, tax deed activities are expected to increase in the years ahead. Parcels for which the County has taken the tax deeds in prior years have proven difficult to return to the tax rolls due to lack of bids. As of the date of this report, the County is is proceeding to foreclose on three (3) properties for tax delinquencies. The Human Resources Department is expected to refer employment related questions and/or disputes to the County Attorney s Office. Activities referred from the Human Resources Department included general questions relating to hiring and firing, compliance with state and federal leave laws and engaging in negotiations or proper procedures with regard to resignations and terminations. In addition, challenges to unemployment compensation claims are encouraged when legally appropriate, which may in turn require involvement of the office. The number of unemployment compensation claims appears to be cyclical. The County determines whether a challenge is warranted on a case-by-case basis. Similarly, worker s compensation claims are screened by the office and, as appropriate, managed, challenged or claims are paid. The County Attorney s Office has been involved in workers compensation cases by providing direct legal representation or legal consultation to the department in conjunction with the County s Third Party Administrator. Page 5 of 11

6 In 2011, an evaluation of the changes to regulations promulgated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ( HIPAA ) was undertaken as a result of the enactment of Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act ( HITECH ) in In 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued final rules for the implementation of HITECH. It was determined that HITECH expanded the reach of HIPAA and, thus, the County needed to update its policies and engage in re-training its workforce. The evaluation of the law, policy development and re-training were conducted by the County Attorney s Office. Compliance monitoring continues, policy updates have been completed and additional training has been provided in In 2015, not unlike other years, the County Attorney has assisted county departments with compliance with Wisconsin's Public Record Law and County Committees with open meeting/closed session compliance. Under the Public Records Law, there have been several requests that a response is easily given by simply providing the requested records. However, there have been several record requests that have required substantial research and literally a balancing of competing public interests before a response can be given. In these instances, the office's time is consumed by evaluating the request, formulating an appropriate response and, on occasion, responding to petitions for writs of mandamus or restraining orders. Although individual County departments, most often department heads, are the official custodian of department records, the County Attorney frequently interacts with the custodians to ensure that proper reasons are given in the event of nondisclosure. In 2010, the County Board adopted a resolution acknowledging Federal Trade Commission s rule relating to identity theft and authorizing a prevention program. Affected County departments were informed of the County s policy and were instructed to implement prevention measures. The policy requires reporting detection of red flags to the County Attorney so that monitoring and mitigation efforts can be undertaken. To date, no red flags have been reported. Other notable 2015 activities include but are not limited to the following: Provided legal advice to county departments, committees and Board of Supervisors Provided legal assistance for the Countywide Radio Enhancement Project Assisted with the implementation of County Board and Committee restructure Reviewed or drafted 211 contracts as of November 25, 2015 Page 6 of 11

7 Drafted Intergovernmental Cooperative Agreements between County and City of West Bend and Washington County and Ozaukee County Maintained compliance with federal standards in the Termination of Parental Rights cases (6) Achieved compliance with HITECH changes to HIPAA, including department training Provided advice to departments regarding compliance with Driver s Privacy Protection Act monitoring Supreme Court decision. Assisted departments with responses to public records requests Prosecuted 252 Mental Commitment Cases (including juveniles), 33 extensions and 47 Guardianship and Protective Placement cases through October 31, 2015 Provided legal advice and guidance on various personnel matters Met with departments to review Code Chapters for recodification Handled or managed all worker s compensation cases Assisted and trained new Department Heads and managers regarding County operations and legal processes and procedures 2015 ACCOMPLISHMENTS - Child Support Maintained the percentage of cases with a court order established above the required 80% Maintained the percentage of cases where paternity is established above the required 90% Maintained the percentage of cases with current support collections above the required 80% Increased the percentage of cases with support orders established by 0.11% Consistently #1 in current support collections for medium sized counties and increased current support collections by 0.47% over this time last year Collected over $1,000,000 per month in support that was distributed to families in Washington County in the first six months of 2015 Child Support Agency The Child Support Agency continues to provide quality service to the public. In addition to meeting and exceeding the standards set by the State of Wisconsin, the agency strives to reach goals set above the state mandate for funding. Meeting and/or exceeding performance measures imposed by the State and Federal Child Support Enforcement Agencies may have the effect of obtaining additional performance incentive dollars for operations. Performance information, including measures and achievements for 2015, are summarized as follows: Average caseload per team (3 teams) = approximately Average Paternity Caseload (# of cases in which paternity is to be established) = 110. Page 7 of 11

8 Over $1,000,000 per month in support was distributed to families in Washington County in the first six months of The Agency will receive the maximum federal reimbursement for meeting/exceeding the goals. The Agency continues to receive 66% federal reimbursement for operating expenses and the Agency continues to reimburse 100% of operating expenses to cooperative agencies. FFY 2015 (thru September 30) Performance: Achieve state-mandated performance for Court Order Rate of 80%, Paternity Establishment Rate of 90%, Current Child Support Collection Rate of 80%, Arrears Collection Rate Cases of 80% in order to achieve 100% of federal match funding for these goals. Court Order Establishment 80% - achieved a rate above 92% Paternity Establishment 90% - achieved a rate above 108% Current Support Collections 80% - achieved a rate above 81% Arrears Case Collections 80% by Sept 30, 2015 achieved a rate of 77.9% The Agency has collected $55, in contempt purge payments (January October, 2015.) This is above and beyond the regular support enforcement payments. With the passage of the State s Biennial Budget, Child Support funding was restored to 2006 levels. This means that State GPR has been made available to counties to support local child support operations during the biennium, keeping in mind that the funding level is almost ten (10) years old in spite of the growing caseload. In order to receive 100% of the state/federal funding, the Agency must achieve statemandated performance for Court Order Rate, Paternity Establishment Rate, Current Child Support Collection Rate and Collection Rate for Arrearage Cases. Despite the caseload reallocation of the cases to fewer teams, the agency has achieved all performance benchmarks as described above. GOALS FOR 2016 County Attorney As expected, the office will continue to provide legal support and assistance for all county projects, including the ongoing issues relating to Fair Park and those completed projects that require legal intervention. The office will continue to serve the County Board as its primary function and perform daily functions as required by statute. The office will continue its support Page 8 of 11

9 of the Administration Department when requested or as needed. Specific goals include but are not limited to: Continue working with departments to implement the recodification of the County Code. Continue reconciling special assessment collections for the extension of sewer and water from the Village of Jackson under the 1999 Agreement. Continue monitoring repayment of State Trust Fund loan for Cabela's condominium unit; seek shortfall payments as necessary. Provide legal assistance to the Highway Department in the area of right-of-way acquisition, including conducting hearings before the Condemnation Commission and performing appellate work. Educate new Department Heads and managers on the contract review process, including implementing the Contracting Policies. Provide training and assistance to all County departments, especially new employees interacting with the office by virtue of cases handled. Continue to provide legal support for the Health Department s merger. Provide legal assistance, as requested, for the upgrades to the Countywide Radio System 700 Overlay. Strive to provide timely legal services to County Board, committees, departments and fulfill all statutory responsibilities. Provide continued legal support and assistance to departments for implementation of the federal Driver s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) [18 U.S.C. 2721(b)(13)]. Assist and monitor the Child Support Agency, Clerk of Courts Office and Bureau of Child Support as a County Pilot Program to implement the soon to be mandated e-filing System. Assist with implementation of the new County Board and committee structure approved by the adoption of 2015 Resolution 14. Conduct new County Board Supervisor orientation for the session. Child Support The Child Support Agency goals for 2015 include striving to meet or exceed its stateimposed and self-imposed percentage standards in the area of collections, establishment of child support orders and paternity orders despite reduction in staff and redistribution of duties among Page 9 of 11

10 fewer staff. Given the agency s track record for success, I have no doubt that the team approach continues to improve services provided to the public, which should be the primary goal of all county departments. In most cases, when state and federal performance benchmarks are exceeded, the agency is eligible for additional performance based funding in addition to its annual allocations. CONCLUSION The position of County Attorney is extremely rewarding while at the same time increasingly challenging. The issues and cases addressed by both the County Attorney s Office and the Child Support Agency present a variety of new and unique opportunities. It remains my professional and personal goal to provide high quality legal services to the County Board, its committees and the county departments. The Child Support Agency s mission of providing prompt and satisfactory service to the public will continue although service delivery may be delayed due to the reduction in funding provided by the State of Wisconsin. Historically, the office meets its budget projections, does not require extra funding from the General Fund, nor does it return money, except nominal amounts, to the General Fund. It is projected that the office will return less than $5,000 to the General Fund at the close of books. Please feel free to visit or call the County Attorney s Office or the Child Support Agency at any time to discuss your expectations or concerns or simply to learn more about the duties of the office. Attached is an Affidavit relating to the amounts received and forwarded by the Office of County Attorney during this past year. Dated this day of November, Respectfully submitted, Kimberly A. Nass County Attorney Page 10 of 11

11 STATE OF WISCONSIN ) ) ss WASHINGTON COUNTY ) Kimberly A. Nass, being first duly sworn on oath states as follows: 1. That she is the County Attorney in and for Washington County and has so served since May 9, 2000 and as Assistant County Attorney prior to that time since January 29, 1996; and 2. That by virtue of her office she has received no money since the submission of the office s last affidavit given of November 26, 2014, except those amounts collected on behalf of other county departments and agencies, all of which amounts were, upon receipt, forwarded to the department or agency to which they were due or the Washington County Treasurer s Office. Dated this day of November, Kimberly A. Nass County Attorney Subscribed and sworn to before me this day of November, Jacqueline Limbach, Notary Public Washington County, Wisconsin My commission expires 08/31/2018. Page 11 of 11