Adding an additional Clerk Experienced Level position will help the office achieve greater efficiency by utilizing the appropriate clerk level to perform a variety of entry level tasks not requiring a great deal of discretion and whose office skills are commensurate with the recent reordering of current staff assignments. The County Counsel's Office is organized into three (3) separate divisions. The General Law Division, the Tort and Civil Rights Litigation Division, and the Juvenile Dependency Division. As of this date, all divisions are fully staffed. Prior to 2010, the General Law Division had four (4) clerical positions. During the Great Recession; the General Law clerical staff was reduced to three (3) positions. Over the past seven (7) years this office has managed to support between 14-17 General Law attorneys with three (3) clerical positions. There are now 19 General Law attorneys in this division. We anticipate that the increased demand for support staff will continue for the foreseeable future as we prepare to initiate new document and management retention protocols in an effort to streamline County Counsel operations. The existing clerical staff is no longer sufficient to keep up with the attorneys' demand for time-sensitive legal work. The attorney/clerk ratio of 6:1 is not sustainable without diminishing the quantity and quality of our work. The additional Clerk Experienced Level position will restore the staffing levels in the General Law division so that we can continue to efficiently address the County's legal needs.  

Denial of this request will perpetuate the day-to-day burden on the current clerical staffing and contribute to a crisis-driven operation, to the detriment of this office and the officials, departments, agencies and special districts that we serve.