Staffing Issues Limit Public Access At D.A's Office

Lincoln County's District Attorney says a deepening staffing crisis is forcing her office to close its front counter to the public at times, limiting access for crime victims and raising broader concerns about public safety and county leadership. In an interview with Oregon Coast Breaking News, District Attorney Jenna described months of struggling to maintain basic services as 11 positions remain unfilled due to a county budget deficit. Those vacancies include three Deputy District Attorneys, two management positions, two legal secretaries, and several other roles.

“I’ve been trying to avoid this for months now. Currently I’m operating without 11 positions and where it’s really left us now is the inability to function at full capacity.” She said. "The situation has made it so she is being forced to choose between public acceess or core legal duties." With staffing at the bare minimum, or bare bones, Jenna said the office no longer has backup when employees are out sick or on vacation. When the person normally working the front desk is absent, other staff have been pulled off their regular duties to cover the counter. That tradeoff, she said, has become unsustainable.

“When those individuals were covering the front desk, then they weren’t getting through their actual assigned work, which primarily is getting discovery to defense attorneys, opening up cases, filing things for DDAs… the day-to-day of a DA office,” Wallace explained. The District Attorney emphasized that her office is legally required to prosecute crimes and provide discovery—including police reports and body camera footage—to defense attorneys. When forced to choose between those statutory duties and keeping the public window open, she says public access is what has to give.

"If we can’t do both of those things, at some point, something has to give,” she said. “Unfortunately… the only thing I can do is just shut down public access so that we can still maintain our ability to prosecute the day-to-day crimes.” The closure of the front desk has direct consequences for crime victims, who often rely on the DA’s office for information and support. “I would say a good chunk of individuals who do end up coming to our front office are victims of crime,” Wallace said. “Whether they’re looking for information on how to file a police report or about a currently pending case that they are a victim in, or even help filling out restraining orders.”

Victim advocates in the office also assist with civil restraining order paperwork that is later filed with the courts. When the front desk is closed, those services are effectively cut off. This will have an impact on victims of crime. “If our front desk is not open, those services are not available to victims. So I absolutely think that this will impact crime victims.”

Jenna said she has sent emails and formal agenda requests to the Board of Commissioners, seeking permission to fill positions through “exception requests” to the hiring freeze and to have the issue discussed in public. So far, she says, those efforts have been met with silence.

“I’ve sent emails. I’ve sent agenda requests and I’m not getting any responses to my emails,” she said. “I don’t know who’s in charge. I don’t know who’s making decisions, and I don’t know why no one will have a conversation with me about why my exception requests are not being granted.” During a work session of the board of commissioners on January 14th county council Yuille stated she has taken on the administrative duties for the county.

The board of commissioners have not publicly announced who is the county administrator or if they are taking on those duties with the assistance of county council. The only response from the county on the matter was from Ken Lipp, Lincoln County PIO who stated that the position is currently being recruited by the firm Prothman. According to their website it states to apply by November 9th 2025 and the position is open until filled.

According to Wallace, Commissioner Miller has been the only county official willing to speak with her, and he has not been able to provide her with any answers. By contrast, she said she has had no communication with Commissioner Chuck, and has received no explanation for the lack of response. Wallace said she wants to understand the criteria being used to deny her exception requests.

Wallace argued that the issue should be formally placed on a Board of Commissioners agenda, so the discussion can happen in public. On Januay 29th Wallace submitted an agenda request and proposed order to allow for four key public safety positions in the District Attorney's Office to be unfrozen including two general-fund deputy district attorney positions, a detective position, and the Executive Chief position. These are positions that have already been budgeted for.

"I think this is something that we need to discuss, and we need to discuss in the public light, so that the public understands what’s going on and why these exceptions are not being granted" Wallace added as she warned "key decisions affecting public safety appear to be happening “behind the scenes,” without clear communication to my office or to the public."

As the DA’s office continues to juggle core legal duties with limited staff, Jenna’s message to county leaders and residents is the same: the status quo is not sustainable, and the county must openly confront what that means for public safety and crime victims in Lincoln County. Commissioner Miller when contacted said he has attempted on several occasions to discuss DA staffing and has not had his agenda requests on the matter honored. There has been no response from Commissioner Chuck on this matter. There is a board of commissioners meeting scheduled for Feburary 4th at 10am, at this time this matter is not on the agenda.