At last Tuesday’s Grays Harbor County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) meeting, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Daniel Crawford presented a case for promotions and raises for three county prosecutors — District Court Prosecutor Andrew Fleming, and Superior Court Prosecutors Jessy Nations and Christopher Smith — with Commissioner Georgia Miller making a vociferous counterargument.
After a lengthy, spirited discussion, the BOCC chose not to vote on or advance the requests presented forward due to fundamental issues with the proposed promotions and raises, the workplace culture in the prosecutor’s office, and the classification and compensation study that is currently underway.
However, at the end of last week’s meeting, both sides believed a compromise could be reached. County Administrator Sam Kim met with Crawford after the BOCC meeting and has since shared with The Daily World that compromise discussions have broken down.
“I proposed the following to Daniel Crawford. Subject to Board Approval, Andrew Fleming accept two step increases (from Step 3 to Step 5) for a salary increase of 6.8%; Chris Smith – an increase in step from 2 to 8 for a salary increase of 22%; Jessy Nations – increase step from 3 to 6 for a salary increase of 10.6%; and the Prosecutor’s Office submit an updated organizational chart,” Kim said via email. “Chris Smith’s floor (the minimum needed to stay) was a 41.7% increase in pay. Based on comments at the BOCC meeting, he realized that such an increase is not possible for our County. Jessy Nations is interviewing for jobs at other counties that might give him a minimum of 20.4% increase in pay. One (of the opportunities) would result in a shorter commute for him, along with a $20,000 signing bonus. He might consider staying if we match. Still, since he started looking, he has realized that other counties might be more attractive for him.”
Kim added that Crawford, Smith and Nations confirmed that their caseloads have not increased, however, the number of trials has “tripled or quadrupled due to (Crawford) pushing for more trials and Public Defense being less willing to accept plea deals.”
At this time, the BOCC does not plan to vote on the proposed promotions or salary increases. County attorneys may take positions with other counties without losing benefits or seniority. According to Crawford, losing these prosecutors would be extremely detrimental to Grays Harbor County.
“It would be catastrophic for being able to prosecute crime and get some of these people out of the community who need to be out of the community. If those two left, there’s nobody with the experience other than me to prosecute these cases,” Crawford said. “They are far outperforming, and they’re taking cases far above their level. Now with their experience, they can now say, ‘look at the experience I have’ and they can leapfrog and take their benefits with them.”
One of the arguments the BOCC made at last Tuesday’s meeting was that the workload is excessive because the prosecutor’s office has vacancies that have not been filled.
Crawford said that three additional prosecutors would alleviate some of the issues.
“The more the merrier, obviously, if we had three more criminal prosecutors on my team underneath me, we have the seats available, with two of them having more experience, would be the ideal,” Crawford said. “That way we’re not overburdening the county with paying an exorbitant number of attorneys, but that’s where we have spaces open, that’s where we have the caseloads, that’ll keep us really busy, but that’s what we could work with.”
Regarding Smith and Nations, Crawford stated that they have done exemplary work and should be compensated accordingly.
“The two of them have stepped up, they’re willing to take the tough cases, they’ve been successful prosecuting cases, they have come and learned fast throughout the year,” Crawford said. “The people applying now are all brand-new, fresh off the street, fresh out of law school with no criminal law experience. Having to start all over with new prosecutors, we’ll do it, of course, if we have to, but we should be rewarding the people who have stuck it out.”
Crawford added that these prosecutors should be paid based on their merit and should be rewarded for stepping up and working tougher cases beyond their experience level. He added that there are two essential elements necessary to attract experienced prosecutors to Grays Harbor County.
“I don’t need someone just because they have 10 years (of experience), (these prosecutors) are getting years of experience way earlier than they would normally if all things were created equal, but it’s not, not in this day and age,” Crawford said. “(To attract qualified attorneys) they have to be paid at least the same they’d make in other counties, and the culture would have to be what they’re looking for. For the culture we’re trying to grow here, we’re going to be hard on crime, we’re going to get the worst of the worst people out of our community, and the people we can help, we’re going to do our best to put them in our therapeutic courts and help them. If that’s the mentality and culture that an experienced prosecutor wants, we’re going to be the best office for them, but we have to continually show it as we’ve been for the last year, year and a half.”
At last Tuesday’s meeting, after pointing out the prosecutor’s office’s work culture issues, Miller said, “We’re in a worse retention issue now. I don’t believe $150,000 more is doing justice for the people of Grays Harbor. … The department of the prosecuting attorney’s office needs to be fixed, that does justice for the people of Grays Harbor, that will allow us to attract quality attorneys at a reasonable price.” Miller added that the people of Grays Harbor deserve better. On that point, Crawford wholeheartedly concurs.
