Memorandum
Date: March 5, 2024
To: The Honorable Bruno Sabatier, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Susan Parker, County Administrative Officer
Subject: Approve Public Defender Contract Amendment Number 12 between the County of Lake and Lake Indigent Defense, LLP for the Purpose of Replacing Thomas Feimer with Edward Savin as Individual and/or Partner and Authorize Chair to Sign
Executive Summary: Lake County currently contracts with Lake Indigent Defense, LLP (LID) to provide free legal counsel to indigent defendants as required by the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright. The existing annual contract equals $1,725,000 or a $143,750 monthly payment. The increase in the previous fiscal year FY2023 allowed for the hiring of an additional 8th felony attorney.
On April 18, 2023, your Board approved the transition from a private contractor public defender model to a Chief Public Defender Office. On September 19, 2023 your Board appointed Chief Public Defender Raymond Buenaventura to assess the service level needs as they relate to staffing and resources and develop a Public Defender Office. After he conducted public outreach efforts and other analytics, he presented a workplan to your Board on February 27, 2024 for your consideration which included a proposed timeline and transition plan.
This amendment represents one of the first steps in that transition plan.
Proposed changes to the existing LID agreement include the following bolded changes:
NOW, THEREFORE, the parties hereby agree as follows:
A. Section 1(B) Definitions is hereby amended to read:
B. "CONTRACTOR" shall mean Edward Savin, who shall be severally held to the obligations, terms, and conditions of this Agreement.
B. Section 1(G) Definitions is hereby amended to read:
Lake Indigent Defense, shall mean the identification of Edward Savin, who, as of the date of execution of this Agreement, is presently acting in the performance of this Agreement. The organization...
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