Schreiber endorsed to be Saratoga County public defender

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

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Assistant public defender Oscar Schreiber has been recommended for promotion to Saratoga County’s top public defender.

The county board’s Personnel Committee on Wednesday recommended Schreiber’s appointment to replace longtime Public Defender John Ciulla, who retired in March. The full Board of Supervisors is expected to act on the recommendation when it meets May 21 in Ballston Spa.

Schreiber, an attorney who has worked for the county for 24 years, has been the office’s full-time first assistant defender since 2010. If his appointment is confirmed, he will earn an annual salary of $115,303, according to the county Personnel Department.

The public defender’s office represents poor and indigent defendants who can’t afford a lawyer, appearing in both criminal and family court. With five assistants, the public defender’s office handles about 1,900 misdemeanor cases and more than 300 felony or family court cases each year. The office has a budget of about $1.7 million annually.

Schreiber is also a member of the Saratoga Springs Republican Committee.

The Personnel Committee also reviewed behind closed doors a tentative contract settlement with the 105-member Saratoga County Sheriff’s Deputy Benevolent Association. It’s a four-year deal to replace a contract that expired in 2011, but no further details were released Wednesday.

The union represents some employees of the Sheriff’s Department — corrections officers, dispatch desk officers, civil clerks, commissary clerks, cooks and other non-law enforcement personnel.

The settlement followed state mediation, said county Personnel Director Jack Kalinkewicz.

If the proposed contract is approved, the corrections officers would be the only labor union at peace with the county. Both the sheriff’s road patrol union and the Civil Service Employees Association unit that represents most county employees are working without contracts. Negotiations are in either state-supervised mediation or arbitration, Kalinkewicz said.