(Spirit Lake)– Still no action on a request from Dickinson County Attorney Rosalise Olsen to hire an assistant.
The board of supervisors heard the request for a fourth time Monday, but deferred any action until Thursday. Supervisor Mardi Allen is the county’s representative on the Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum Board of Directors, which was also meeting Monday. Fellow supervisors said they feel it’s important all five members be present for the vote.
Olsen is requesting an additional 24-thousand dollars to hire another assistant for the last six months of the current fiscal year. For the full upcoming fiscal year the request is 48-thousand.
Olsen Monday once again defended her call for the additional help, after making a pledge in her campaign to operate the office under the same budget as her predecessor. Olsen responded by saying she had no idea the caseload was this high when she was running. She admitted that making such a request now may be “political suicide”.
Making reference once again to the caseload, Olsen told the supervisors a large percentage of cases in the county are being plea bargained, because she says her office simply doesn’t have the manpower to fully prosecute them.
John Martin, himself a former County Attorney for Dickinson county, works as an assistant in Olsen’s office. He stopped short of quitting Monday unless more help is hired.
The supervisors will take up the matter again at 10:00 a.m. Thursday.
