Commissioners won't budge on decision to close public defender's office

MEDINA — Chief Public Defender Jocelyn Stefancin made a final stand Tuesday to try to save the Medina County Public Defender's Office from closure. Despite her pleas, the Medina County commissioners wouldn't budge and said they will follow through with plans for the office to be terminated, effective April 30. Commissioners passed a resolution Jan. 19 citing Ohio Revised Code to terminate the Medina County Public Defender Commission. By law, it had to give the commission a 90-day notice. All the employees, including Stefancin, will lose their jobs at that time. Public defenders provide legal representation services in criminal proceedings to adults and juveniles accused or convicted of a crime who cannot afford to hire an attorney. Public defenders are provided in the two Medina County Common Pleas courts and Municipal Courts in Medina and Wadsworth. Even though the commissioners are disbanding the office, they stressed that public defenders still will be offered to those who can't afford an attorney. The courts will appoint private attorneys to fill the role of indigent defense. Commissioners said they no longer believe the public defender's office is cost efficient. County Administrator Scott Miller said the budget of the public defender's office has doubled since 2014. The office requested a budget of almost $800,000 in 2021, which was rejected. Instead, the county approved a 90-day budget. The state now is reimbursing counties at a rate of 80 percent for indigent defense. Stefancin said the public defender's office provides many resources to the community, most notably a file system for indigent clients. "Where are those files going to be maintained?" she asked. "Where are you going to keep them? Who's going to have access? Those documents are privileged." Stefancin mentioned Miller's salary has increased 40 percent since 2016 and said he has also added an assistant county administrator, whose salary was recently bumped up to around $100,000. Commissioner Collen Swedyk said Amy Lyon-Galvin's position was added when the finance director retired and wasn't replaced. Commissioner Steve Hambley didn't take kindly to her comments and called them "unprofessional." The salaries of the two employees have nothing to do with the budget problems in the public defender's office, Hambley said. "They are not comparable," he said. Miller said Medina Municipal Court has not utilized the public defender's office as much in recent years, which entered into the decision to defund the office. He said he spoke to all of the common pleas and municipal judges in the county and none of them recommended to keep the public defender's office up and running. Hambley said it's the state's obligation to pay for public defenders. Citing statistics from the Ohio Public Defenders Commission, he said there are 29 counties that have public defender's offices. Forty use court-appointed counsel and 10 also have contracts with the state public defender's office. In other news Commissioners have appointed Kathleen M. Greenwald to the Medina County Port Authority to replace Gino P. Faciana, who has resigned. Her term will expire Dec. 31, 2024. Contact reporter Bob Finnan at (330) 721-4049 or rfinnan@medina-gazette.com.