HELENA — An audit of Montana’s newly reorganized Office of the State Public Defender has found a couple of issues, but the agency head says steps have been taken to remedy the problems.
The Great Falls Tribune reports that Montana lawmakers in 2017 reorganized the office, creating four divisions now overseen by a director. The program was previously overseen by a commission that has since been eliminated.
The audit presented Tuesday to the Legislative Audit Committee noted problems with fee collections and internal controls dealing with contracting with attorneys.
Public defender office Director Rhonda Schaffer told the committee legislation will be proposed next year to correct the fee collection problem and the department has already fixed the contracts issue.
The public defender office has offices in about 15 cities around Montana.