City seeks a new public defender

The city of Blaine is seeking a new public defender to provide legal representation for indigent criminal defendants, following a decision by public defender Sharon Westergreen to resign for health reasons.

The city, which is required by law to provide a public defender, has issued a request for proposals seeking responses from both private law firms and public agencies. The contract term would initially be for two years, with an option to extend the contract by mutual agreement for an additional two-year period.

“People contracting for a position like this are more likely to contract for a shorter term,” said city manager Michael Jones. “To ask for someone to commit for six or 10 years is a difficult thing.”

In a letter hand-delivered to city clerk Samuel Crawford on January 28, Westergreen announced her resignation for health reasons. “Blaine’s caseload takes up most of my time and energy, including many calls on weekends from clients,” she wrote. “Though I know I could not have predicted or anticipated this, I still want to apologize for this unexpected development and the ensuing inconvenience.”

In her letter, Westergreen said she will “keep an ear to the ground” to identify possible permanent or temporary replacements.

According to the city’s request for proposals, the city anticipates assigning the new public defender an average of 10 cases per month or 120 cases per year. “The number of assigned indigent defendants and the resulting trials are dependent on the unique facts and circumstances of any particular case and time period,” reads the document. “The types of cases the selected public defender shall be responsible for include gross misdemeanor, misdemeanor and probation cases.”

In evaluating proposals, the city will consider the completeness of an applicant’s written proposal, their qualifications, their history of successfully fulfilling contracts of this type, experience with similar work and their proven or potential ability to fully comply with all required ethical and professional standards.

As part of the proposal process, applicants are expected to submit detailed information on their proposed fee schedule either on a price-per-case basis or as a total yearly or monthly fee, noting any variations for non-routine services.

The city hopes the selected candidate can begin as soon as possible, or else no later than April 30.