Schuylkill County will use a total of $69,325 in grant money to help keep 17 public defender’s office employees.

The onetime grant, through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, includes $2,475 each for part-time assistant public defenders Debra Smith, Jacqueline Piekarsky, Kent Watkins, Lora McDonald, Nicholas Watt and Stanley Burke.

Full-time public defenders Andrea Thompson and Ashley Sabol will receive $5,200 each.

Chief Investigator Jessica Kline, Chief Public Defender Karen Domalakes, Fiscal Administrative Assistant Sheila Finney-Rehrig, investigators Cassie Allen Yarnall and Stephanie Hillbish, Investigator/Fiscal Reimbursement Officer Christine Dormer, Secretary 1 Luis Benitez-Dominguez and Secretary 3 Ashley Jakubiw will receive $5,200 each.

PCCD Communications Director Ali Sindlinger said the organization in March approved the funding under the third “iteration of the Indigent Defense Grant Program, totaling $20.55 million for counties to improve the capacity and effectiveness of indigent defense services across the Commonwealth.

“Until 2023, when Governor (Josh) Shapiro secured first-time indigent defense funding, Pennsylvania was one of only two states in the country that did not provide state funding for indigent defense,” she said.

“Through the Indigent Defense Grant Program, funding can be used to recruit and retain staff; improve data collection and reporting capacity; obtain necessary training, professional development, and technical assistance; and fill any other gaps identified by the county, in consultation with indigent defense service providers,” Sindlinger said.

Since the start of the grant program, Schuylkill County has been approved for a total of $305,480.

The funding that was recently approved by the Schuylkill County commissioners is fiscal year 2024-25 Indigent Defense funding, for which PCCD approved $69,325 for retention bonuses.

“Schuylkill County has used additional Indigent Defense Grant funding for continuing legal education registration, case management software, office supplies, and technology,” Sindlinger said.