CANYON CITY — The Grant County Court unanimously approved a request to fill three open law enforcement positions at its regular session on Wednesday, Nov. 24.

The job openings include a full-time legal assistant in the District Attorney’s Office, a half-time assistant in Justice Court and a full-time patrol deputy in the Sheriff’s Office.

The heads of all three departments told the county commissioners that the open positions needed to be filled for their agencies to function properly.

District Attorney Jim Carpenter said his office has just two legal assistants to provide support services for a caseload that has averaged 390 new cases a year over the past five years.

“This is a position that we need,” he told the court.

Justice of the Peace Kathy Stinnett said her office is in a similar position. If the open half-time position isn’t filled, she would be left with just a single full-time assistant to do all the support work.

“Nobody in my office ever has a slow day,” she said.

Likewise, Sheriff Todd McKinley told the court he needs to keep all of his patrol deputy positions filled, especially since the city of John Day stopped providing police services within the city limits in mid-October. At full strength, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office has just four patrol deputies to cover the county’s 4,529 square miles.

“If people want to live here, enjoy their freedoms here, I’m not going to beat the drum anymore,” he said. “We are a necessary service.”

Commissioner Jim Hamsher noted that Grant County’s law enforcement agencies are being called upon to do more than ever before.

“You no longer have a police department in John Day, so that seems like a real no-brainer to me,” he said. “I don’t see how we can cut back on any of these positions.”

County Judge Scott Myers agreed.

“I appreciate all that you do,” he told the members of all three county agencies present in the courtroom. “I have no intention, as long as we can afford it, to defund police at any level.”

The legal assistant position in the District Attorney’s Office pays $3,913 a month, according to a county job posting, while the patrol deputy job pays between $21.37 and $26 an hour and the Justice Court assistant job pays $17.35 an hour.

All three jobs come with county benefits.

In other business, the court:

• Heard a report on a grant for Meredith House, Heart of Grant County’s new domestic violence shelter.

• Tabled a discussion on the Greater Idaho movement that was added to the agenda at the request of a member of the public after no one in attendance, either in person or via conference call, came forward to speak on the subject.

• Discussed the need to fill a number of vacancies on various county boards, including the Planning Commission, the Senior Advisory Board and the Wolf Depredation Advisory Committee.