BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County has received more than three-quarters of a million dollars to provide legal services for those who cannot afford a private attorney. 

Legislators approved accepting $766,959 through the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services' grant program, the 14th year New York has utilized a competitive grant funding formula. 

The contract is for three years and will provide reimbursement funding for approved items and will partially cover the compensation and benefits of one Assistant Public Defender, one clerical position, the cost of the contract for the Assigned Counsel Administrator and the annual cost of the NYSDA Public Defender Case Management System user licenses. 

The funding will reduce county expenses for the years of the contract, officials said. 

In St. Lawrence County, the Office of Indigent Defense consists of the Public Defender’s Office, the Conflict Defender’s Office, and the Assigned Counsel Program.

The St. Lawrence County Public and Conflict Defender Offices represent individuals in local criminal courts, County Court, Supreme Court, and Family Court.

Cases that cannot be assigned to the Public Defender's Office are assigned to the Conflict Defender's Office when a conflict of interest arises, officials said. 

If neither office can provide services due to a conflict of interest, the case is then forwarded to the Assigned Counsel Program for assignment.

But over the last year, staffing issues have led county officials to reshuffle the offices and those attorneys involved. 

Last May, County Administrator Ruth Doyle said the goal was to process applications in a more timely manner and to ensure attorneys are at the state's caseload standard.

"What we're interested in doing is trying to consolidate some operations so that we hopefully can maintain our attorney staff, hopefully serve our courts better, and definitely improve representation," Doyle said at the time. 

Those efforts have streamlined processes in the offices as attorneys handle more than 2,000 cases per year in both criminal and family court. 

At the time, the Conflict Defender's Office was staffed with only two attorneys, as opposed to the normal five. 

Public Defender James McGahan opted to consolidate the offices last year as staffing issues persisted. 

In a corresponding move, the Office of Indigent Defense opened a satellite office in Ogdensburg, due in large part to the extensive case load in the city.

County officials have said that Ogdensburg has one of the highest concentrations of cases in the entire county.

The new office allows attorneys to utilize work space to meet with clients, all while making it easier to meet in a more timely manner.