Title
Resolution to Approve an Amendment to Professional Legal Services Agreement with Funkhouser and Nassif, P.L.L.C., DBA Model Cities Legal Services, Inc. to Provide Legal Representation as Court-Appointed Counsel to Indigent Defendants for FY2013 ($203,000.00 amendment/$383.000.00 new contract NTE)
Memorandum
The 15th Judicial District Court is required by law to appoint attorneys to represent indigent defendants when potential sanctions upon conviction may include incarceration.
By Resolution R-12-282 dated June 18, 2012, Council approved a professional services contract with Funkhouser and Nassif, P.L.L.C., dba Model Cities Legal Services, Inc. (“MCLS”), for indigent representation services in the amount of $180,000.00 for FY 2013. The contract amount was estimated based upon, among other factors, the amount of invoices received from MCLS in prior FYs. Consequently the contract amounts were reduced from $210,000.00 in FY 2008 to $180,000.00 in FY 2013.
Indigent defendants represented by MCLS who are found guilty by plea or by trial are often subjected to further Court action because those defendants remain under Court supervision or are subject to ongoing Court orders after sentencing. Other indigent defendants represented by MCLS whose cases have not been adjudicated have outstanding arrest warrants, which continue those cases to undetermined future dates.
In October 2012 the Court and City Financial Services became aware that MCLS’ often delayed invoices for indigent representation until those cases were closed or until further Court action was unlikely. The unfortunate and unintended result of that practice is a reservoir of unbilled invoices that masked the true annual cost of indigent representation.
In order to bring the indigent representation account fully current, the Court, City Financial Services and MCLS agreed that MCLS would invoice all delayed invoices, without regard to when services were rendered, not later than February 8, 2013. ...
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