Any good business owner knows that in order to increase revenue, there are times when you have to invest a little bit in the business—goods, services, whatever the case—in order to advance and to get a good return.
And while a public entity isn’t exactly a ‘business,’ oftentimes, when it’s run like one, it really gets the returns on the investments.
Case in point: Saline County.
In May, Saline County State’s Attorney Mike Henshaw told the county board that he desperately needed another assistant; the caseload (as you all have seen in recent years) has grown dramatically. The board balked; Henshaw made his case.
This past month, the board reconsidered: and now, Eva Walker, the prosecutor child molesters literally fear (we’ve heard that people in six counties surrounding Saline—Hardin, Pope, Gallatin, Hamilton, Franklin and White—have spoken with those criminally-inclined toward crimes against children, and to a one, they’ve all said they would NEVER venture into Saline County as long as Eva Walker was there) is coming back.
To give you the full details, here’s your noontime Read the Lead, Board approves hire of assistant prosecutor for more efficient judicial system in Saline:
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Saline County State’s Attorney Mike Henshaw, left, is shown here next to county board member Danny Gibbs, who was acting chairman in the absence of chairman Carey Harbison at the July 8 special board meeting, further explaining how a well staffed judicial system would naturally bring much needed revenue into county coffers simply by working the way it was designed to.
SALINE CO.— As with any business, and make no mistake, successful budgeting at any level, county or otherwise, requires a business mind, investments are sometimes called for in order to increase revenue.
That appeared to be the mindset of the Saline County Board as it passed a motion July 8 to suspend, in part at least, a county-wide hiring freeze and authorize Saline County State’s Attorney Mike Henshaw to hire another assistant prosecutor for his office.
uring the previous meeting, Henshaw had addressed the board, telling them that his office was inundated with work, and his current staff simply couldn’t turn cases over as fast as they would be able to if properly staffed.
Henshaw told the board at that meeting that his office would be able to generate more revenue for the county if they could close more cases, and asked to hire another assistant to help bear the ever-increasing workload.
At the suggestion by one board member at the previous meeting of temporary help, Henshaw made it abundantly clear that hiring a temporary assistant would not work because it would be difficult to find a qualified assistant willing to do the work on a part time basis, the caseload is not projected to decrease by any stretch of the imagination and it would be unfair and some say unethical to tell a prospective assistant prosecutor, “You’ve gotta make the county money if you want to keep your job.”
Henshaw has expressed on numerous occasions that it is not the purpose nor function of a state’s attorney’s office or the judicial system to be a money-maker….
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