November 08, 2024

Supervisors approve hire of assistant county attorney

The Clarke County Board of Supervisors approved 3-0 the hire of an assistant Clarke County Attorney at Monday’s regular board meeting.

Clarke County Attorney Johanna Olson recommended to the supervisors hiring Jonathon Muyskens, a recent graduate of Drake Law School who is currently working as a criminal defense attorney in Polk County. The county has been without an assistant attorney since Olson, former assistant attorney, took on duties as acting county attorney until being formally appointed to the position. Olson replaced Adam Ramsey, who resigned in July.

Muyskens will start Oct. 14, and while his title will be assistant county attorney, his primary role will be as a prosecutor.

The supervisors also approved 3-0 a 28E agreement with Warren County in regards to collection of past due court fines.

Olson explained that since being down one attorney, they have not been able to adequately pursue past due court fines. She said what had been found was that a lot of people who owe fines in Clarke County also owe in Warren County, and therefore Warren County had agreed to pull payment plans for Clarke County into theirs.

When asked by Warren County what the plan was moving forward, Olson explained the lack of staffing, and Warren County offered to run the collection program for up to one year. The agreement can be terminated earlier than that should, someone be hired to take on that role. Warren County offered to train that person, while continuing to process collections and mailings related to past due courts fines. In the interim, people would be sent to Warren County to set up necessary payment plans.

In providing the service, Warren County would keep 35% of the back due monies for administering the program with Clarke County receiving 65%; any money owed to the state would go to the state.

When asked by the supervisors why Clarke County would want to take the process back at all, Olson replied,

“We would want to take it back on our own if we can run [it] efficiently where it is not a significant time commitment.”

She stated that for the previous assistant attorney, it had taken two days a week, but should only take a half a day if it could be done efficiently. Olson said that an attorney would sign off on any payment plans, but would not need to do face-to-face interactions.

Candra Brooks

A native of rural Union County, Candra holds a Bachelor's Degree in English from Simpson College and an Associate's Degree in Accounting from SWCC. She has been at the Osceola newspaper since October 2013, working as office manager before transitioning to the newsroom in spring 2022.