Mendocino County DA Threatens Lawsuit Over Hiring Restrictions
Says public safety is the "first responsibility" of county government
After struggling for months to close a $17 million deficit through a flexible hiring freeze and other “creative solutions,” the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors learned Tuesday that the county is still projected to be $3 million in the red by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the district attorney’s office warned supervisors that eliminating long-standing vacancies could jeopardize public safety and trigger litigation.
Assistant District Attorney Scott S. McMenomey called the county’s six-month cutoff for removing vacancies “completely arbitrary,” arguing that specialized posts such as chief deputy district attorney and senior deputy attorneys require years of legal education and experience and cannot be filled locally. He said the county saves money by hiring from outside the area, since it does not bear the cost of candidates’ education.
McMenomey also pointed to what he described as a “handshake agreement” with county leadership that vacant positions would remain available to fill even if unfunded. He noted the office is already short-staffed: there are 10 deputy district attorneys on staff and five vacancies, along with three “special” deputies who handle murder and asset forfeiture cases.
“Our office is already understaffed. I don’t know any other county in this state where the district attorney has fewer deputy DAs than the public defender’s office,” McMenomey said, adding that the workload threatens the physical and mental health of existing staff. He emphasized that District Attorney C. David Eyster personally tried 10 cases last year — a number he called “unheard of” for an elected DA.
Citing Government Code 25303, McMenomey said the board cannot obstruct the district attorney’s independent investigative and prosecutorial functions, though it retains budget authority. “We don’t want to go down that path, but we will if we have to,” he said, warning the office could seek help from the state attorney general or pursue reimbursement through litigation if necessary.
Supervisor Ted Williams said the board does not want conflict with the district attorney’s office but acknowledged “a fundamental lack of funds.” He presented a chart showing that expenses for the sheriff’s office and the jail are rising faster than revenues, particularly property taxes.
“The county basically spends its discretionary dollars on public safety,” Williams said, noting that about 34 percent of overall funding is allocated to public safety, with the rest going to departments that support that work, such as the assessor, tax collector and auditor. “It’s bare bones today and it’s about to get worse. And so the hope is we can have some collaboration between the board, the district attorney, the sheriff.”