Thu, Nov 26 2009
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Published November 01, 2009 09:50 pm - A proposal to make the McDonald County prosecutor’s office full time and a pair of bond issues for the communities of Diamond and Lanagan will come before voters Tuesday. McDonald County’s electorate will be asked to make the prosecutor’s position full time and to raise the prosecutor’s salary from $53,000 to $106,000, according to County Clerk Barbara Williams. The measure requires a simple majority vote for passage. If approved, it would take effect in June 2011, Williams said. Prosecutor proposal heads ballot By Derek Spellman dspellman@joplinglobe.com A proposal to make the McDonald County prosecutor’s office full time and a pair of bond issues for the communities of Diamond and Lanagan will come before voters Tuesday. McDonald County’s electorate will be asked to make the prosecutor’s position full time and to raise the prosecutor’s salary from $53,000 to $106,000, according to County Clerk Barbara Williams. The measure requires a simple majority vote for passage. If approved, it would take effect in June 2011, Williams said. The term of the current prosecutor, Janice Durbin, expires in January 2011. “We cannot vote ourselves a raise,” Williams said. A phone message left for Durbin last week at her office was not returned. A home phone number listed for her is no longer in service, according to an automated recording. Ronnie Walker, McDonald County Western District commissioner, said he spearheaded the push to get the proposal on the ballot. Walker took office in January of this year. Walker has cited the office’s growing caseload and the county’s growing population as key reasons for making the position full time. The prosecutor’s caseload has increased from 802 cases in 1991 to 1,874 last year, he said. As for the county population, that increased from 21,681 in 2000 to an estimated 22,731 in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The population was 16,938 in 1990. “We’ve got a lot more people, and it’s growing every day,” Walker said. The prosecutor’s position, though, has not kept pace, the commissioner said. That makes its difficult not just to attract but also to retain experienced prosecutors. “That is our main goal in doing this really,” Walker said. 
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