Lincoln Co. DA Forced To Occasionally Close Office – KXL

Newport, Ore. – The Lincoln County District Attorney’s office has closed to the public several times in the past couple of weeks and the D.A. says it’s going to happen more often if County Commissioners don’t take action. 

District Attorney Jenna Wallace says her office is short-staffed, “We are normally budgeted for 22 full-time positions, as well as two part-time and eight grant-funded positions. And, essentially, we’re down 11 of those positions.” It means, she says, there are very few people to work the front desk if someone is sick or on vacation, “We’re really struggling covering the front, while also getting our work done that’s required of us on any given day.” It’s not stopping them from prosecuting cases, yet. “Where it really impacts is people coming to the front desk and either looking for information or wanting to have contact about a case.” But, Wallace says, if the problem continues, she may be forced to reduce the number of misdemeanor cases her office takes on.

County Commissioners imposed a hiring freeze last spring, in light of a $4 million budget shortfall. Wallace tells KXL News, “They indicated this freeze would be for six months; the six months has expired already.” And, she says, other departments have been allowed to hire through an “exceptions” process, while her requests have been denied or ignored altogether. 

Wallace wants answers, “Commissioner [Walter] Chuck won’t even speak to me about my exception request, about my staffing levels.” She says Commissioner Chuck has refused to add her to a meeting agenda. “I’m not even getting information as to why I’m being denied or ignored, and really just trying to understand why other departments in the county are receiving exception requests, are able to hire in the past 6-8 months.”

Lincoln County’s Board of Commissioners is down one member, after Commissioner Claire Hall passed away amid a recall vote. She was Board Chair at the time. As Vice Chair, Chuck assumed the top position following her passing.

KXL reached out to the Board for comment; the office did not respond.