Peter Lucido asks county for seven new hires to address office deficiencies, ‘tsunami’ of cases | Local News

New Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido will proceed with his effort to add seven full-time and two-part time positions despite an initial tepid response by County Executive Mark Hackel.

Lucido said adding staff is crucial to address deficiencies in the office due to “years of neglect” by his predecessor and to handle the influx of criminal trials expected this year following a nearly year-long prohibition on them at the county courthouse due to COVID-19 restrictions.

He is scheduled to appear Thursday in front of the Macomb County Board of Commissioners Records and Public Safety Committee to present his plan for an additional $905,000 in funding to pay for more staff as well as the buy 60 cell phones to equip all of the assistant prosecutors.

A copy of Lucido’s presentation has already been made available to the board.

“In coming months, what will be a backlog of nearly a year of jury trials, bench trials, and other proceedings in the circuit, district, and juvenile courts will involve a literal tsunami of” evidence to be reviewed and in-person courtroom and remote proceedings “in unprecedented numbers, in all of the Macomb County Courts, all at the same time,” Lucido says in the presentation.

“Time is of the essence. I urge you to give favorable consideration now. I will prove the worth of this investment in the near term.”

Lucido told The Macomb Daily: “When you open up the floodgates and the tsunami comes and the logjam goes away, I’d like to send prosecutors (to the courtroom) and not have (crime) victims sitting on the courtroom steps. Public safety shouldn’t spare any expense.”

But in a Jan. 22 letter obtained by The Macomb Daily, Hackel tells Lucido he does not support his request for $905,000 to fund the positions. Lucido’s request by charter must be supported by the County Executive’s Office, which would make a recommendation to the board for approval.

Hackel points out county departments were asked last year to reduce their 2021 budget proposals by 5 percent and that the county has 103 unfunded positions in the budget.

“I do not believe it would be fair to the rest of county government for me to request and recommend a budget amendment for your office at this time,” Hackel says. “When new funds do become available, new or restored position requests from all budget units should be considered simultaneously.”

The 2-1/2 page letter carries a conciliatory tone and suggests options.

“I hope you understand that I am not passing judgement on the value of what you are proposing,” he wrote. “I’m sure you can also understand how difficult it is to balance all of those competing interests and shape them into a single countywide budget.”

Hackel offesr suggestions of reallocating funds within the Prosecutor’s Office’s approximately $15 million budget, addressing under-performing staff, seeking state or federal grants or higher fees, and improving operations through technology.

The executive also offers a glimmer of hope in reference to potential federal or state government funds related to the pandemic.

“Supplemental funds could become available soon,” he says. “County revenues will remain limited and there historically has been no appetite to increase taxes.”

Ralph “Skip” Maccarone, Lucido’s chief assistant, told The Macomb Daily that the office is operating at a level below the bare minimum needed to provide necessary services.

“That’s a fair enough statement,” Maccarone said of Hackel’s response. “But we’re in a critical stage to provide services and safety to the public. We don’t have enough bodies to do what needs to be done.”

He said the office is in danger of being unable to properly supply evidentiary material to defense attorneys, and is unable to issue the needed number of warrants against individuals for severely delinquent child-support payments. He added the office has already spent $3,000 of $5,000 allocated for extradition proceedings for criminal defendants who flee the state.

Obstacles to providing “discovery” material to defense attorneys have increased due to the increasing amount of digital evidence prosecutors receive from police agencies, most notably more videos due to body cameras. To address that, Lucido is seeking to create two information technology positions.

“The Prosecutor’s IT system is threatened if not with collapse, serious lapse, in providing mandated justice materials and reports,” Lucido says in the presentation.

Maccarone said many assistant prosecutors are working long hours, pointing out Zoom court hearings require more telephone and communication efforts.

Regarding the suggestion to reallocate funds, he said: “We view that as working within our budget, but there’ s nothing to work with.”

Lucido, who ran a law firm for over 20 years, blames the current situation on “years of neglect and lack of planning” by former prosecutor Eric Smith, who resigned last March after he was charged with 10 felonies for his alleged theft of up to $600,000 of county forfeiture funds.

The Prosecutor’s Office staff of over 100 includes 62 assistant prosecutor posts, although only 58 of those posts are filled. Two assistant prosecutors are currently on paid administrative leave due to their roles under Smith.

County board Chairman Don Brown said last week the board will listen to Lucido’s plan but can only formally consider approving it after it goes through the Hackel administration, which would forward a recommendation to the county Finance/Audit/Budget Committee.

“It’s great to see Prosecutor Lucido rolling up his sleeves and working to meet the goals he has set for his office,” said Brown, a Washington Township Republican. “The Board of Commissioners is interested in hearing his presentation and will formally address his request through the budget process, as mandated by the County Charter.”

Lucido says his office actually has a need for six assistant prosecutors to handle the more than 1,000 cases per month submitted by police agencies but is only asking for 1-1/2 posts in that category.

He adds each of the 11 circuit courtrooms that routinely handle criminal cases should have two assistant prosecutors assigned to it but do not, and some specialized units should add an attorney. Circuit court also includes four family divisions judges who hear some criminal cases involving juveniles.

The proposed full-time posts include with their median cost:

• Assistant prosecutor, at a cost of $98,500, which is a currently vacant position.
• Communications director, at a cost of $92,500, who would provide information to the public, including the media, because of “the need for accurate, timely, and well-chosen words to the public.” The person also would train staff in media relations.
• Court liaison, at a cost not to exceed $70,200, a temporary, hourly paid contract position to assist with implementing trials in 2021 that would be “best suited for a former member of the County based judiciary.”
• Information technology director, at a cost of $131,500. The office currently has no IT staff but has some access to two county IT professionals.
• IT business system analyst, at a cost of $98,500, to “write proprietary programs, customize scripts, provide policies and procedures for program implementations, maintain up to date upgrades and systems checks, all of which have either been minimally maintained in desperation by non-IT Prosecutor’s Office staff or neglected completely.”
• Executive assistant, at a cost of $98,500, to serve as a “single point of contact for the Prosecuting Attorney to give direction for civilian staff and APA (assistant prosecuting attorney) Chiefs, coordinate scheduling, examine sensitive documents and prioritize the daily schedule of events for upper management.” This position may be non-union.
• Legislative liaison/training coordinator, at a cost of $162,000 or $98,500, to mentoring, in-service training, legislative initiative review for comment to state lawmakers, and “rapid review and dissemination of legislation to our line and appellate attorneys. Historical deficiencies in these areas are unacceptable for the third most populous county in the state.”

Lucido also suggests adding part-time positions of assistant prosecutor at a cost of $71,200 and intern coordinator at a cost of $21,500. Smith nixed the office intern program several years ago.

In addition, Lucido proposes creating the position of deputy chief assistant prosecutor he wants to fill with James Langtry, Smith’s former chief of staff and chief of operations for his entire time in office. Langtry was fired by then-Acting Prosecutor Jean Cloud in April 2020 less than a month Smith was criminally charged and resigned.

Langtry is a witness in the state case against Smith.

Langtry’s hiring is fraught with concern among many people on Lucido’s staff because of his prior close relationship with Smith and his management style, according to two assistant prosecutors who last month spoke anonymously to The Macomb Daily.

Langtry’s deputy-chief post would be budget neutral, Lucido said, because he would use savings from his sole at-will political appointment, Maccarone, who is working part-time although he could work full-time as Lucido’s political appointee. Maccarone is an attorney, and was the supervisor of Shelby Township from 2000 to 2008 and a Detroit police officer from 1969 to 1985. He also is listed as a member of the staff with an Auburn Hills-based human resources firm hired to represent Macomb Township Monday, though Maccarone’s name was not mentioned as someone who would handle that work.

To hire Langtry, Lucido must submit the position to county Human Resources, in which the process includes the position being posted and each candidate interview including a representative from Human Resources. That is followed by a rating of each candidate by the interview group.

Lucido also proposes purchasing 60 new cell phones for assistant prosecutors at a cost of $49,500. He says he needs to correct the current situation of less than half of the assistant prosecutors having a county-supplied cell phone.

Also needed is $12,000 to meet a matching-fund requirement to continue $1 million in grant funding for the Crime Victims Rights Unit, he says.

Lucido, a former state lawmaker from Shelby Township, defeated Mary Chrzanowski in the November election and was sworn into office Jan. 4.