TRAVERSE CITY — Grand Traverse County commissioners unanimously agreed to grant the 86th District Court’s request for two additional probation officers.
Commissioners learned of the district court’s plight at a recent board meeting when Judge Robert Cooney and court administrators Gwen Taylor and Melanie Catinella told them how desperately their department needed these positions.
“What I want to stress this morning is that our court’s probation department is in crisis, and I don’t that word lightly, we have seen our caseload double,” Cooney said. “Emails and phone calls go unanswered because there are so many cases.”
Based on calculations by the Grand Traverse Finance Department, the county would be responsible for $114,951.58 out of $156,396.71 for the total cost of the two positions. Antrim and Leelanau counties would pay for the remaining 26.5 percent.