County attorney's office mostly caught up after COVID

COVID-19 set court districts across the country behind, but Riley County has nearly wiped away its backlog.

County attorney Barry Wilkerson on Thursday told county commissioners his office is caught up on cases the pandemic interrupted, though he acknowledged making those gains caused other delays.

“The system itself is behind,” Wilkerson said. “I mean, you don’t lose 18 months and catch up in a couple years, so there is still stuff that was put of. We’re still moving through things in 2024 that we would’ve liked to have done in 2023.”

Wilkerson said he’s confident going forward.

“We feel pretty good about where we’re at, and we’ll be able to clearly operate on the budget that you gave us last year for this current year,” Wilkerson said. “We don’t foresee any problems.”

Regarding staff, Wilkerson said he is in the process of interviewing to fill a position left vacant by a recent retirement. He said he expects to fill the job in the next 10 days.

“This is a great county to serve,” Wilkerson said. “We certainly appreciate all the support we’ve received over the years.”