By Shelley Smith
ssmith@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY ó The draft budget unveiled Tuesday in the N.C. House of Representatives proposes a consolidation of the Rowan and Cabarrus county district attorney offices, with one district attorney in charge of prosecuting both counties.
The two counties were a single prosecutorial district from Jan. 1, 1991, until Dec. 31, 1994, while former district attorney Bill Kenerly, supervised both counties. It divided Jan. 1, 1995, and Kenerly remained district attorney until he retired last year.
And in the 1970s, when Kenerly was an assistant district attorney, Rowan County was part of a four-county district ó Montgomery, Cabarrus, Randolph and Rowan counties.
If the provision is approved, former Cabarrus Assistant District Attorney Brandy Cook would serve only one term before having to decide whether to run against her former boss, Cabarrus District Attorney Roxanne Vaneekhoven.
Kenerly said he supports the consolidation, depending on what you consider the role of the elected district attorney.
ěI certainly think that one elected district attorney is capable of supervising the activity in both of the counties,î he said. ěThat would mean, at current rate, 16 to 17 lawyers working for you and the same amount of administrative people.
ěIt meant for me less day-to-day involvement because I was dividing my time.î
Kenerly spent his time between the main office in Cabarrus, and smaller office in Rowan.
ěI think Rowan, in terms of district attorney offices, is one of the smaller (offices),î he said, noting Rowan has the third-smallest office in the state, and the work and prosecutors in Rowan and Cabarrus counties ěcould be adequately supervised by one person.î
But during the last three to four years as district attorney, Kenerly said ěwhat was necessary to move a caseload quickly eluded me.î
ěWe developed a backlog and I never could figure out what we could do about it,î he said, with ěmore people and more court.î
Cook said the Administrative Office of the Courts has reported Rowanís office is now funded at 81 percent of ěworkload to staff ratio,î she said, and has acknowledged, ěwe still need more staff in this office to handle the caseload.î
Cook said that because the budget is in its beginning stages, it would be ěpremature to hypothesize on what may or may not occur.î
Vaneekhoven is not in favor of the consolidation.
ěMy view is that bigger government does not better serve the victims of crime in Cabarrus or Rowan counties,î she said. ěAnd consolidating districts equals bigger government.
ěI kind of look at it like, the bigger you make someoneís backyard to protect, the harder it is to protect.î
Vaneekhoven said district attorneys in smaller districts can give victims of crime a ěbigger and louder voice,î and also keep district attorneys ěmore accountable and more accessible to the people they serve.î
ěI feel like enlarging districts is a complete disservice to victims and to the law abiding citizens we work to protect through the pursuit of justice within our court system,î she said. ěNo matter what the proposal is, bigger government always equals more money spent. … Bigger government always costs more money in the long run and provides less of a service to victims.î
Rowan County Manager Gary Page said the entire proposal ěgoes back to the same old thing ó the state doesnít want to take responsibility,î he said.
ěIn the everyday world it doesnít work that way,î he said of the shifting of responsibility and cuts. ěApparently in Raleigh it doesnít work that way.î
Other proposals in the budget include:
Eliminating 117 victim witness/legal assistant positions from district attorney offices across the state;
Moving misdemeanor offenders to county jails, which is part of the Justice Reinvestment Act currently in the House as House Bill 642;
Reducing district attorney support staff;
Eliminating 19 magistrate positions across the state, but none would be affected in Rowan;
Reducing inmate cost by increasing sentence reduction credits.