DA on hiring dilemma: "Frankly, it's Wichita Falls"

Wichita County District Attorney John Gillespie has a serious hiring dilemma on his hands.

He told county commissioners on Tuesday a firm he used to search for an assistant DA made 900 contacts and couldn’t find a single candidate who wanted to apply for the position.

“I said is there a salary thing we need to talk about, and they said, frankly, it’s Wichita Falls,” Gillespie told the commissioners. “I love our community. I’m just being blunt with the situation and the legal environment we’re in.”

His remarks came as he asked the commissioners to raise the salaries of eight of his assistants to $95,000 each to retain them.

“I don’t think this would fix the applications, but I can’t have anyone leaving right now,” Gillespie said. “I’m just trying to triage.”

Gillespie said law schools are turning out fewer lawyers so there’s a greater demand.

“We’ve been down two positions that we essentially get no applicants for. At a minimum, we’ll be down four by the end of the year, and we just don’t get resumes,” he said.

The grant would cover salary increases through the rest of 2024, but commissioners would have to budget $760,000 to carry the raises through 2025.

Gillespie’s first assistant district attorney, Dobie Kosub, faces no opponent in the November general election and is expected to become 89 ^th District Court judge on Jan. 1. Another prosecutor is leaving for the military.

Commissioners passed the request unanimously.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: DA on hiring dilemma: "Frankly, it's Wichita Falls"