Adamu Shao.

“These cases have been going on as long as I have been here,” he said. “I think it’s time that we start dealing with it.”

A state public defender, David Smith, disagreed and said there is no need to make a formal complaint.

But he said it’s time for the City Council to take a long hard look at how to deal with the rising number of cases.

“You have to have a process in place to deal with these types of things when they’re going on for so long because it’s the responsibility of every lawyer and every city person to make sure it doesn’t happen anymore,” he said.

Rice also said that there is no set schedule for when the cases should be submitted to the attorney’s office.

“We try not to have our clients file too many in front of a single attorney as it may delay us,” she said. “However, I think when each case is filed, they should be submitted together.”

Rice said she appreciates the criticism the city has taken.

“I’m not saying that this is a good system, but I will tell you it’s more efficient than any others we’ve had,” she said.

City Councilman John McDonough said “the public is getting the message that what is happening here is unacceptable.”

He said the city should provide more guidance on how to solve these cases and have more training for lawyers.

“Maybe that’s a step down the ladder, but there’s nothing that I’m interested in seeing that would make me want to resign,” he said.