The Washington County Board of Supervisors approved the hire of a newly added position for the county attorney’s office Tuesday.

County Attorney John Gish presented a personnel change request to hire Justin O’Rourke as a full-time collections coordinator. Gish explained that collections were previously handled by the office’s victim and witness coordinator Molly Jennings. He feels that the demands of each responsibility need two employees, “The position will pay for itself because the county does collect a percentage of that money. Last year the county in its general fund received approximately $70,000 from our working collections and I expect that number to go up.”

Gish shared that Washington County has a little over $2.8 million in outstanding victim restitution and about $10.7 million in other court debt such as fines and court costs. He believes that having a specific collections coordinator will better help defendants pay off their debts and become rehabilitated. O’Rourke is a 19-year veteran of the Iowa State Patrol, and his start date is April 4th.