NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After the Board of County Commissioners approved a series of projects at the Reno County Courthouse last month that included renovations to the District Attorney's office area, Reno County District Attorney Tom Stanton spoke to the board about why the approved work was needed at their meeting on Tuesday.
"Frankly, we haven't had any renovations or changes in the office since we went up there in 2005," Stanton said. "The carpet's still the same. It's dirty. The fixtures are still the same. We're trying to do all of our job in that little area. The problem with that is, when you are presenting yourself as a law office to the public, their expectations were much like Commissioner Sellers had been, that at least you would have an office that looked professional, where people weren't crowded in and where there would be some privacy. We don't have that."
Right now, victims have to talk to one lawyer while two others continue to work in the background. With some cases, that is difficult.
"Sometimes it's, they are rape cases," Stanton said. "Sometimes they are children who are there on indecent liberties cases and a lot of the time I go back there for discussions with the victims, the citizens you represent, on homicide cases, on cases of unlawful distribution of controlled substance resulting in death and we're having these conversations about the cases and there are people present. That's not a professional law office."
The plan passed by the commission takes the DA's office off of the fourth floor and puts everybody together. It gives them a conference room and five new offices.
"I can't fill all five offices now, admittedly," Stanton said. "If there are any changes to the courts in the future or any changes to the way we practice, for example, if we're going to have a mental health board, I'm going to need another attorney and it makes sense to have those, to have that done now all at once for the entire courthouse than to wait and try to find space for us later. There are no other spaces for us in the courthouse."
Stanton also noted that the diversion program through the DA's office has raised enough money in the past twenty years so that the DA's office portion of the project would have paid for itself if that office had been fully allowed to retain the funds. The diversion program has raised $1,736,379.52 since 2003.
"I'll be frank, I was disappointed when I heard about the discussion, to a certain extent, because no one asked me any questions," Stanton said. "People didn't come to me and ask me about this. They may have gone to other sources, but nobody came and asked me. This is my department. I'm the person who knows what we need, not someone else, not somebody who never comes to my department, who is making assumptions. I've had a really good relationship with the commission since I've started here. I've been dealing with the commission. I've brought things to the commission, you can ask Randy, Daniel and Ron about this, I've brought things that I didn't need to bring to the commission, just so you knew what I'd be doing. I want that to continue. I would ask that, in the future, if there are questions, if you have concerns about something that's going to be happening that's going to be affecting my office, come to me and ask me about it. Let's talk about it. I want you to have the full information I have, so that you can make the decision the citizens elected you to make."
Ron Hirst, Don Bogner and commission chair Daniel Friesen voted to approve the money. Commissioners John Whitesel and Randy Parks voted against the proposal.
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