Making Stoddard County prosecuting attorney full-time to be on Nov. ballot

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Stoddard County residents will decide in the November election whether to make their prosecuting attorney a full-time position.

Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis brought up the issue at the weekly commission meeting Monday, and it passed by a 2-1 vote, with Mathis and Commissioner Carol Jarrell voting in favor of it and Commissioner Frank Sifford voting against it.

Prosecutor Russ Oliver presented a case to make the office a full-time position early this year. Under state statute, the county can make the prosecutor a full-time position by a vote of the registered voters in the county. The issue can be placed on the ballot by a vote of the commission, or by a petition signed by 10 percent of the voters in the previous general election.

In a special meeting March 2, Jarrell made a motion to place the measure on the ballot, but it died for lack of a second from either Mathis or Sifford.

"I've changed my mind," Mathis told the commission Monday.

Oliver argued at the special meeting that the case load in Stoddard County is three times that of Ripley County, the closest county to Stoddard County that has a part-time prosecutor. He said Stoddard County has a bigger case load than Dunklin, Pemiscot and New Madrid counties combined, all of which have a full-time prosecutor.

A committee has been trying to get the 10 percent of needed voters' signatures to get the issue on the November ballot.

Sifford said if the people wanted it on the ballot, they could sign the petitions and have it placed on the ballot.

Sifford questioned the additional cost to the county and whether the county would continue to have an assistant prosecutor if Oliver's position was made full-time.

The pay for a full-time prosecutor was placed at $109,366. The increased costs would be $66,776.36 above the current level, which would cover increases in salary, retirement systems and Social Security payments.

Pertinent address:

Bloomfield, Mo.