Kalki Yalamanchili, who took over as Western Judicial Circuit district attorney in January, had a clear message for Oconee County Democrats when he met with them last week. The staffing problems he confronted when he assumed his job were worse than he had anticipated, he said.
“I, quite frankly, need your help,” he said.
He asked those present to lobby the Oconee County Commission at it moves though its budget deliberations to help him restore funding so he is able to hire assistant district attorneys.
Yalamanchili said his office lost 10 positions because his predecessor, Deborah Gonzalez, did not apply for continuation of its federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grant and because federal American Rescue Plan Act funding ran out.
At present, he has 14 funded assistant district attorneys, and he said that number is inadequate, given the large backlog of cases.
Yalamanchili also told the Democrats that he has assigned an assistant district attorney to Oconee County full-time. No assistant district attorney had been assigned full time to the county when he took office, he said.
In an email exchange on Feb. 23, Yalamanchili said, at present, he has a funded staff of 35, not including himself. All the funded positions are filled. These are: nine victim advocates, three administrative staff, two legal assistants, one community outreach director, six investigators and 14 assistant district attorneys.
Following staff departures as he entered the office, he hired a new community outreach director, a new director of victim services and a new office manager, he wrote.
Several positions were vacant when he took office, he said, and “out of the attorneys who were there when I took office, one is no longer with the office.”
“The remainder of the staff are from the previous administration or hires into open positions,” he said.
Yalamanchili said he has hired seven new ADAs since he took office in January, and one new investigator.
Yalamanchili said he has requested three additional ADAs and three additional investigators in Clarke County.
“I had a transition meeting with Ms. Gonzalez,” he said in response to a question from me. “It was cordial.”
This article was originally posted at Oconee County Observations. Click here to read more.
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