To: James Avery, Governmental Operations Committee
From: Prosecutor David Leyton
title
RE: 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 2024.
BACKGROUND:
For the past ten 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 at any given time with up to four SAAGs each year who work in our office performing the work of assistant prosecutors (APAs). SAAGs do everything an APA does 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.
DISCUSSION:
Under this program, the SAAGs are authorized to serve as Assistant Prosecutors in Genesee County. 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 FY2024 has not be received from the AG's office but, we have been informed that the program remains in the AG's FY2024 budget and will be forthcoming. Since our SAAGs will...
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