Carbon County's chief prosecutor may be retiring at the end of the month, but he will still be prosecuting cases for the county for months to come.

On Thursday, the Carbon County Salary Board established the position of a special assistant district attorney, which will take effect Sept. 1. That position, which is an unpaid position, will be filled by retiring District Attorney Gary Dobias.Dobias said that the reason for volunteering his time after retirement is because there are about a dozen cases that he has been prosecuting for years that he wants to see through to the end."Some are major cases; some are very old, more than 10 years; some are in various stages of the criminal justice system, in the federal system, in the state system," he said. "It would be very difficult for someone new to handle those cases."He highlighted a few long-term cases, such as a murder that happened in 1997 that is still weaving its way through the court systems; as well as cases that get appealed to higher courts."There are some cases that never go away," Dobias said.The county commissioners thanked Dobias for his dedication to his job and the county."We would like to thank you, Gary, for your work you have done here for decades," Commissioner William O'Gurek said, noting that his decision to volunteer his time will save the county thousands and help keep the cases that he was prosecuting on track."We appreciate everything you've done as the top prosecutor of this county."Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard pointed out that Dobias never faced opposition for his position in the six terms he served as district attorney."That speaks volumes about the kind of person you are," he said. "We wish you the best in your retirement."Commissioner Wayne Nothstein, chairman, spoke about Dobias' understanding of running a tight ship financially and pointed out he only made recommendations for positions when it was necessary to do the best job with the increasing number of court cases handled annually.Dobias said he felt his decision to stay on in a volunteer position would help make the transition to retirement easier because he loved what he did.Robert Crampsie, county controller, pointed out that this isn't typical for a district attorney to stay on after retirement."I don't know if it ever took place before," Crampsie said. "But it is an example of the dedication to public service that we have in our district attorney. We're fortunate in Carbon County that we have a district attorney that believes in public service and is willing to come back and put the time in with no compensation.""We're indeed much luckier than the other counties (in the state) to have someone like Gary doing what he is doing for us," O'Gurek added.Dobias doesn't know when he will fully transition from a prosecutor to a retiree, but he seems OK with it.Dobias' career with Carbon County began in 1980, when he served as a prosecutor in the district attorney's office under then District Attorney Richard W. Webb. He has held the district attorney position since 1992.First Assistant District Attorney Jean A. Engler will fill his position once Dobias officially retires.