(A) The joint county public defender shall be appointed by the joint county public defender commission for a term not to exceed four years. He shall be an attorney with a minimum of two years experience in the practice of law and be admitted to the practice of law in Ohio at least one year prior to his appointment.

(B) In carrying out the responsibilities and performing the duties of his office, the joint county public defender shall:

(1) Maintain an office, approved by the commission, provided with a library of adequate size, considering the needs of the office and the accessibility of other libraries, and other necessary facilities and equipment;

(2) Keep and maintain financial records of all cases handled and develop records for use in the calculation of direct and indirect costs in the operation of the office, and report monthly pursuant to the rules of the Ohio public defender commission to the joint county defender commission and to the Ohio public defender commission on all relevant data on the operations of the office, costs, projected needs, and recommendations for legislation or amendments to court rules, as may be appropriate to improve the criminal justice system;

(3) Collect all moneys due from contracts with municipal corporations or for reimbursement for legal services under this chapter and institute such actions in court for the collection of such sums as he considers advisable. The public defender shall pay into the treasury of each county in the district, to the credit of the general revenue fund, the county's proportionate share of all moneys collected or received by him.

(4) Appoint assistant joint county public defenders and all other personnel necessary to the functioning of the joint county public defender office, subject to the authority of the joint county public defender commission to determine the size and qualifications of the staff pursuant to division (B) of section 120.24 of the Revised Code. All assistant joint county public defenders shall be admitted to the practice of law in Ohio, and may be appointed on a full or part-time basis.

(C) The joint county public defender may exercise the rights authorized in division (C) of section 120.04 of the Revised Code.

(D) The joint county public defender shall determine indigency of persons, subject to review by the court, in the same manner as provided in section 120.05 of the Revised Code. Each monthly report submitted to the board of county commissioners and the state public defender shall include a certification by the joint county public defender that all persons provided representation by the joint county public defender's office during the month covered by the report were indigent under the standards of the Ohio public defender commission.

Effective Date: 09-26-1984.