Lowndes County Prosecutor Hal McClanahan turned in his letter of resignation late last month after fewer than five months of serving in the position.
McClanahan, who was appointed after former county prosecutor Allison Kizer ran unopposed for county judge, said in his letter to the board of supervisors and County Administrator Ralph Billingsley that the position was not “a part-time job” as it was advertised, and was interfering with his private practice. His last day will be June 30. McClanahan was unavailable for comment to The Dispatch by press time.
The county prosecutor — who argues the county’s cases in justice court — is an elected position. In the past, the county prosecutor has been appointed by the supervisors to also serve as the county prosecutor in youth court. Since the youth court prosecutor is an appointed position, and since it has become “a bigger job” in recent months, Board President Harry Sanders suggested to supervisors they consider appointing a separate attorney to that position after a new county prosecutor is elected in November.
“We’re grateful (McClanahan) chose to step in, of course, but the job is very involved and I understand that,” Sanders said during Monday’s board meeting. “We ought to, and this is just a thought, we ought to consider breaking up the position to ease some of the work load.
“Because what goes on in (youth court) is so sensitive, that’s a lot of the workload for the county prosecutor,” Sanders later told The Dispatch. “We would have to talk about pay scale and so forth at the next meeting, but I wanted everyone to think about that as an option. With (youth court), (county prosecutor) turned out to be a full-time job. I don’t think that’s exaggerating when (McClanahan) said that.”
As county prosecutor, McClanahan made $45,700 a year. County board attorney Tim Hudson has agreed to serve the remainder of McClanahan’s four-month term.
Supervisor Leroy Brooks, District 5, said he “doesn’t have a problem” with Sanders’ idea, providing the attorneys are qualified and the cost is reasonable.
“My thing is that certainly we need someone who’s going to be able to work with youth,” he said. “I think the two factors I’m going to be looking at most are who the attorneys are and how expensive it’s going to be. But I don’t have any issue with it.”
Sanders added that he will meet with Kizer to discuss hiring a separate county prosecutor for the juvenile court.
“Because she has that experience as a judge and county prosecutor, she’ll know what we should be looking for,” he said.
Brooks agreed.
“I’m personally going to rely on her recommendations, as well as looking at the cost, when it comes to making a decision on appointing two attorneys,” he said. “I think it’s important we have someone in place who is educated and experienced in (youth court) and I think (Kizer) knows what we need to be looking for.”
Kizer did not respond to The Dispatch’s calls for comment by press time.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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