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2 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY �4���� c°���� <br /> P.O. BOX 8181 <br /> Office of the County 200 S. CAMERON STREET it <br /> Attorney HILLSBOROUGH,NC 27278 t <br /> "tfi cat <br /> 4 <br /> To Orange County Commissioners <br /> Valerie P.Foushee, Chair <br /> Bernadette Pelissier,Vice Chair <br /> Alice M. Gordon <br /> Pam Hemminger <br /> Barry Jacobs <br /> Mike Nelson <br /> Steve Yuhasz <br /> From: John Roberts <br /> Date: March 22, 2010 <br /> Re: Department of Social Services and Child Support Enforcement Legal Services <br /> Currentl y Orange e County provides Legal Services to the Department of Social Services ("DSS") and <br /> Child Support Enforcement ("CSE") through contracts with outside counsel. Each of the attorneys <br /> who p rimarily provide these services are very experienced and highly respected in the local legal <br /> community.- Carol Holcomb of-Northen Blue primarily provides legal services for DSS. These <br /> services include child and adult protective services and defending Orange County and DSS in <br /> appeals of judicial rulings. Leigh Peek of Coleman, Gledhill, Hargrave & Peek primarily provides <br /> legal services to CSE. These services mainly involve the prosecution of child support enforcement <br /> actions against parents who are not current on child support obligations. <br /> Each of these services is important and somewhat specialized. The DSS legal service is related to the <br /> protection of the mental and physical health of children in Orange County. The CSE legal service is <br /> related to the protection of the financial security of children in Orange County. These are legal <br /> services that cannot be fully provided by current county staff. It is primarily for this reason that <br /> Orange County has elected to provide these services through contracts with outside counsel. The <br /> contracts are $165,000 (Budgeted amount for this contract is $155,000) with Northen Blue and <br /> $50,000 with Coleman, Gledhill, Hargrave & Peek and another $5,000 in CSE contracts with other <br /> counsel for situations in which conflicts arise. North Carolina reimburses the County for <br /> approximately 50% of the Northen Blue Contract and approximately 66% of the Coleman, Gledhill, <br /> Hargrave & Peek contract and conflict contracts, resulting in a net cost to the county of between <br /> $96,500 and $101,200 for Fiscal Year 2009-2010. The work related to these contracts involves a <br /> maximum of six to seven days in court per month and significant work outside the courtroom. <br /> According to the numerous attorneys to whom I have spoken the services are currently provided in a <br /> highly effective and time efficient manner. <br /> In my opinion there are three options for providing these legal services in the future: <br />