To: Dale K. Weighill, Governmental Operations Committee Chairperson
From: Prosecutor David Leyton
title
RE: Approval of the Annual SAAGs Self-Funding Insurance Resolution
recommendation
BOARD ACTION REQUESTED:
Resolution approving “self-funding” for liability and worker’s compensation insurance for attorneys working as Special Assistant Attorney Generals (SAAGs) in the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office for Fiscal Year 2026.
BACKGROUND:
For the past eleven years, the Prosecutor's Office has been the beneficiary of the Michigan Attorney General's Office "Special Assistant Attorneys General" (SAAG) program which was established under the State of Michigan's Public Safety Initiative (a.k.a. the Distressed Cities Initiative). This has provided us up to four SAAGs each year who work in our office performing the work of assistant prosecuting attorneys (APAs).
DISCUSSION:
Under this program, the SAAGs are authorized to serve as Assistant Prosecutors in Genesee County and do everything from warrant reviews to felony jury trials. It has been an invaluable program to the Prosecutor’s Office and has saved the County millions of dollars over the years. SAAGs are selected, hired, and supervised by the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office and they provide temporary, year-to-year non-supplanting services to our office. Salaries are funded entirely by the AG’s budget but the agreement with the AG’s Office does not include workers comp and liability insurance. In return for the invaluable and immensely beneficial cost savings the SAAG program provides to our office and the County budget, the Board has agreed in the past to "self-insure" the SAAGs in the performance of their work; this includes both workers comp and liability claims. Please note that as of the drafting of this request, a formal SAAG agreement for FY2026 has not yet been received from the AG’s office but, we have been informed that the program remains in the AG’s FY2026 budget and a SAAG MOU will be forthcoming. Per the terms of the existing agreement, the SAAG MOU continues indefinitely beyond the 2025 fiscal year’s end on September 30th until a new agreement is signed. However, this Board’s annual authorization for self-insurance does end on September 30th so we are simply making sure that there is no lapse in the County Board’s approval of self-funding for workers comp and liability.
IMPACT ON HUMAN RESOURCES:
None.
IMPACT ON BUDGET:
None.
IMPACT ON FACILITIES:
None.
IMPACT ON TECHNOLOGY:
None.
CONFORMITY TO COUNTY PRIORITIES:
The SAAG partnership with the AG’s Office advances the priority of safe communities by adding resources to assist in the prosecution of crime. This program also ties into the County’s value of service by giving us more resources to provide prompt, efficient and competent service to our residents and businesses while at the same time helping secure the County’s financial stability by providing funds that otherwise would have had to come from the County’s general fund.
resolution
TO THE HONORABLE CHAIRPERSON AND MEMBERS OF THE GENESEE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
BE IT RESOLVED, that this Board of County Commissioners of Genesee County, Michigan, approves the request by the Genesee County Prosecutor to self-insure any Workers Compensation or liability claims that might arise from the work performed by Special Assistant Attorneys General (SAAGs) while said SAAGs are working under an agreement between the Prosecutor’s Office and the Michigan Attorney General’s Office between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026, with no County appropriation required (a copy of the memorandum request and supporting documentation being on file with the official records of the July 16, 2025 meeting of the Governmental Operations Committee of this Board).