Stutsman County state's attorney says he's getting 'beaned' for work to staff office

Jul. 19—JAMESTOWN — Stutsman County State's Attorney Fritz Fremgen said he's getting "beaned" for his office being down two-thirds of his staff while he is working to get staffing back to 100% after a Stutsman County commissioner questioned his time management skills.

Commissioner Steve Cichos said Tuesday, July 18, that the amount of research Fremgen did was "phenomenal" for handouts to convince the Stutsman County Commission that salary increases are necessary to recruit and retain attorneys for the state's attorney's office.

"I lost count of the pages," Cichos said.

At the time, the county commission was set to vote on salary increases for the state's attorney's office effective Aug. 1. The county commission approved the salary increases on a 4-1 vote. Cichos was opposed.

Earlier, the county commission unanimously approved adding three grades to the pay-scale structure for the state's attorney's office. The grades were added because it gives more room for progression when an individual gets a pay increase after moving up a step within a grade.

The county's pay scale has 26 grades where employees are placed based on classification, which includes job description, duties, role and responsibilities. Each grade has 15 steps.

Now, the county's pay scale for the state's attorney's office will have 29 grades.

Fremgen said the information he collected was necessary to help fix the problem of having a shortage of attorneys.

"I don't know if you would have gone there if I hadn't put that packet together and I wasn't going to find out," he said.

Cichos said Fremgen is an elected official and the commission has no control over him other than when the board is working on setting the county's budget. He also said the state's attorney's salary is getting a "substantial" increase.

He said he understands the shortage of attorneys in the state's attorney's office and doesn't know if the commission can even help Fremgen.

"We can't get done what the sheriff needs, maybe the PD (Jamestown Police Department), whomever," he said. "I just can't imagine, Fritz, the amount of time you spent putting this stuff together. Then in addition, we get a call from KVLY. You paper your files so good that it's unbelievable."

Earlier, Stutsman County Sheriff Chad Kaiser told the commission that he's been receiving complaints daily that the Sheriff's Office doesn't do anything.

"We are sending things over to the prosecutor," Kaiser said. "What happens over there is not our responsibility. ... I have to daily, monthly, tell all of our deputies that you have to charge out. You have to charge out whether you think it's going to get dismissed or not going to go through. ... We do our job. What happens after that is not on us."

Fremgen said anybody is invited to look over his shoulder to see if he is wasting his time. He told the commission that he has jury trials to prepare for in addition to the cases that law enforcement is sending him.

"I'm trying to field it and get ready for trials," he said. "I can't keep up with them."

Fremgen said he can improve on his time management and everybody has room for improvement.

"I do a good job," he said. "You are not getting people going for these jobs because it's a really hard job. ... Then you come to a commission meeting and you are told you are slow and you don't know what you are doing. I was an honor student at college. I got accepted to law school."

The state's attorney's office has been short one attorney for 17 months and short two attorneys since June 23. Since June 23, Fremgen has been the only attorney in the state's attorney's office.

For months, Fremgen has told the commission that the previous salaries for assistant state's attorneys are too low and it has become more difficult to recruit and retain employees for his office.

At a special meeting on May 23, the county commission approved salary increases for employees in the state's attorney's office effective June 1. Megan Carmichael, Stutsman County assistant state's attorney at the time, had just submitted her resignation at the time. Carmichael eventually accepted a position with the North Dakota Office of Attorney General.

The chief assistant state's attorney position was added to the pay scale. The Stutsman County State's Attorney's Office has not had an assistant chief state's attorney for a while.

On June 1, the starting yearly salary changed to $100,100 to $104,150 for a state's attorney, $94,000 to $97,850 for an assistant chief state's attorney, $88,300 to $91,900 for an assistant state's attorney II and $82,900 to $86,300 for an assistant state's attorney I.

On June 1, the entire salary range changed to $100,100 to $132,000 for a state's attorney, $94,000 to $124,100 for chief assistant state's attorney, $88,300 to $116,600 for an assistant state's attorney II and $82,900 to $109,510 for an assistant state's attorney I.

After approval on Tuesday of Fremgen's recommendation for salary increases, the salary range changed to $119,200 to $157,300 for a grade 29 state's attorney, $112,400 to $148,400 for an assistant chief state's attorney, $106,100 to $140,000 for an assistant state's attorney II and $100,100 to $132,000 for an assistant state's attorney I.

Fremgen also recommended making more grade raises until two assistants are hired if the above grade raises don't produce one hire in a month.

"We have to present a picture that this is the place to stay," he said. "That is a problem that we have."

Fremgen said he is open to suggestions on his time management. He said he has to get reports, talk to county staff, charge individuals and prepare for court appearances.

" ... It's hard. Then we have situations like this and the board says, 'Well, maybe you don't know how to manage your time,'" he said. "I went through law school. I went through college. I went through the (U.S.) Army as a lawyer. I'm a fair time manager."

He said Carmichael told the commission in June she could potentially see herself pursuing his position sometime in the future and what turned her off was seeing Fremgen fighting for pay increases for attorneys to be recruited and retained in the state's attorney's office.

In related business, the county commission unanimously approved allowing the state's attorney's office to pay fill-in counsel at $125 per hour to help Fremgen as needed.

Fremgen said he spoke with Barnes County State's Attorney Tonya Duffy about helping with some juvenile cases. He also said Leo Ryan with Ryan & Dalsted P.C. will help with mental health cases.

"The other folks are more tentative and we have to explore what they are able to do and how much and how it goes," he said.

The commission also heard from Kaiser regarding Valley News Live's coverage of the staff shortage in the state's attorney's office, in which it reported that the shortage was leading to cases being dismissed.

Kaiser said the story by Valley News Live incorrectly reported that a former Stutsman County Correctional Center employee was charged in May for having sex with an inmate. Valley News Live reported that the case was dismissed despite the woman admitting to the act.

Valley News Live has since corrected its story saying the woman was a former employee of the James River Correctional Center.