Greene County hires firm as interim for public defender role
Garrett Neese
Greene County is turning to a local law firm to provide legal representation to clients of the public defender’s office until there is a long-term hire for the department.
The commissioners voted Thursday to enter into a contract with Waynesburg firm Pollock Morris Belletti & Simms LLC. Because the contract is pending a review from the county solicitor, the commissioners declined to disclose its terms, including how much the firm would be paid for representing indigent clients.
Harry Cancelmi, who had served as the county’s chief public defender since 1996, died in September. The remaining member of the public defender office, Assistant Public Defender Mark Kovach, resigned effective Friday.
Annually, Cancelmi was paid $107,794.18, and Kovach was paid $64,452.18.
Commissioner Jared Edgreen said entering into the contract with the law firm now would save the county money, but did not specify how or how much.
The contract can be terminated by either side after 60 days, said county Clerk Jeff Marshall.
“If the right person comes in to fill it and move forward, it goes in that direction,” he said. “This is in place to keep the court moving until a permanent fix can be put in place.”
Pollock Morris was one of two local firms that had reached out to fill the position and had the most bandwidth and most knowledge of the office, Edgreen said.
One of its attorneys, Marissa Stewart, formerly worked in the public defender’s office. Some of the grants the office now receives came from applications she had written, Marshall said.
“We needed stability quickly to continue court operations and things that are going on and indigent services, which have been backed up a little bit with Harry’s passing,” Edgreen said. “He was sick before that, and so we were in a crunch.”
The county is advertising for the public defender positions.
Ideally, Commissioner Blair Zimmerman said, the role would have been filled “yesterday.” But they’re hoping to have someone experienced, while most applicants so far have been new law school graduates waiting to take their bar exam.
“It could be a week or two, it could be a couple months,” he said. “We don’t know.”