Attorney General asks district judge for an interim District Attorney

State is not going to pay

The Seventh Judicial District Attorney’s office is running into more administrative problems as the state’s Attorney General – which was charged with managing the district attorney’s office in the wake of DA Myrl Serra’s arrest in September – says it can’t handle the day-to-day operations of the office.

The Attorney General’s office told district Judge Steven Patrick in a letter that the state doesn’t have the authority to deal with personnel issues, budgeting and other operational decisions that need to be made in the DA’s office.
They asked the judge to appoint an interim district attorney to take over the office’s operations and cases until the dust surrounding Serra settles.
Serra, who was appointed district attorney in 2006, was arrested by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation September 30 on suspicion of official misconduct, indecent exposure and unlawful sexual contact.
Since then the charges against him have been amended to include one felony count of both unlawful sexual contact and criminal extortion. He is also facing one count of misdemeanor official misconduct, three misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and a misdemeanor count of indecent exposure.
In the letter, the state takes the position that it doesn’t have any financial stake in the interim district attorney, although the state has traditionally paid 20 percent of the costs of the DA’s office.
In addition to the administrative costs involved with running the office, the district attorney’s salary for 2010 was $120,000 and will increase January 1 to $130,000. If the state walks away from financing a share of the position, the responsibility of paying the DA’s salary will fall to the six counties in the seventh judicial district.
The 7th Judicial District covers Gunnison, Montrose, Delta, Hinsdale, San Miguel and Ouray counties.
County manager Matthew Birnie and county attorney David Baumgarten agreed with the judge’s determination that there needs to be an interim district attorney appointed.
Birnie told the commissioners that he wants “to slow it down on the cost side,” and argued that the district attorney is an officer of the state who was removed from his duties, but continues to be paid, pursuant to an ongoing Colorado Bureau of Investigation case against Serra.
As a situation that has largely precipitated from the state level, Birnie argued that more of the financial responsibility should fall to the state.
“If [the charges against Serra] are serious enough that he can’t work, maybe he shouldn’t be getting paid,” Birnie said, adding that if a member of the county staff were in a similar situation they would be placed on administrative leave without pay. Serra’s preliminary hearing is February 11 in Montrose.
Baumgarten is reviewing the letter before making a comment.