Photo by Jim Muchlinski Brendan Bitton of Vesta, an employee of Sussner Construction, worked on cutting building materials for the new Public Defender’s office addition.

MARSHALL — By April the Marshall-based regional Public Defender’s office will have room to grow.

They’re increasing their office space on Jewett Street by 50%. One thousand square feet are being added for a total of 3,000.

The $300,000 project is being funded by their landlord Mike Henle, who will use it as an investment by collecting additional rent.

Public Defender Managing Attorney Cecil Naatz said the expansion was needed because of a space shortage and an opportunity from the State Board of Public Defense to hire two more attorneys to help with the five-county case load. The service area includes Lyon, Redwood, Lincoln, Pipestone and Murray counties.

“We simply ran out of space,” Naatz said. “We did everything we could with what we had, and found that we needed more. It was much simpler to expand than to move, so we’re grateful to Mike for helping us to build.”

The expansion will add space to the south side of the property next to Hamilton Funeral Home. It will feature a conference room, four new offices and a storage room.

A crew from Sussner Construction of Marshall has nearly completed the exterior work. They plan to start on the interior by cutting out two doors from the current conference room, which will be subdivided into hallways and the new storage room.

At the same time they’ll complete a $25,000 remodeling project that will add a security window and counter area at the front entrance. Visitors will only be able to enter the office area if an employee admits them.

“The state wants all Public Defender offices to have the security system,” Naatz said. “It’s all being covered by state funds. We’re ensuring the safety of our employees.”

During the past several years the former storage room, break room, and intern’s office were converted into office space for attorneys.

It meant putting breakroom equipment in a hallway, no longer having an intern from the Southwest Minnesota State University justice administration program, and having the disposition adviser work from home. Because of the elimination of storage room space, Naatz has stored old files in locked cabinets at his home.

He said most of the additional space will be used immediately. Steps will be taken to fill the two attorney positions as soon as possible. The added office space could help with recruitment.

“Twenty years ago we’d advertise and have 25 or more applications,” he said. “Now we’ve sometimes had none or one. It’s the same issue that’s affected many employers in rural areas when it comes to recruiting lawyers and other specialists.”

He said two of the main concerns of potential applicants have been distance from larger metropolitan area and employment potential for spouses. The Public Defender’s office has a statewide pay scale that pays just as much in rural locations as urban ones. Any graduate of a law school could qualify.

“I’m optimistic that as an expanding office we’ll find the new attorneys,” Naatz said. “Once new people move here, they usually like it.”

Darell Crumrine, a foreman with Sussner Construction who’s leading the expansion project, said construction work has gone favorably with the help of mild winter weather.

“By next week we should be doing interior work,” Crumrine said. “We’ll also be getting it sided and shingled. It should easily be finished on schedule.”