In early September, Pomfret Town Justice Ron Johnson began public discussion with the town board regarding a proposal by the justices to create a chief clerk position. The position was proposed, at the time, to "supervise" both town and village courts and to bring the two operating systems together as one.
During Monday evening's board meeting, Johnson visited with the Fredonia board of trustees, minus Mayor Michael Sullivan, to discuss the proposed position and the stir it has seemed to cause.
"Way back when I was elected judge it seemed to me that some sort of consolidation between the village and the town would make sense. Whenever I said that word ... consolidation ... it's a word we just can't politically get done," Johnson began. "I talked to the town a couple weeks ago and then when that article came out in the paper then everything went haywire. If there is no consolidation in the town and village court, which for whatever reason can't get done, it seems to me there are some services that can be consolidated to make both courts run more efficiently."
Johnson noted personnel troubles he said the village is facing and how some of his comments he made to the town discouraged any forward progress on the proposed chief clerk position.
"I used the words 'somewhat chaotic' when I spoke to the town and for some reason then there was a clerk upstairs crying, saying that I don't appreciate them. That's not the case, but they're getting overwhelmed and I think they're being overwhelmed because it's a bit disorganized," Johnson said.
"It's been disorganized back when I first started as acting village justice and it's kind of stayed there," he added.
A major motivation for Judges Ron Johnson and David Prince to ask the town and village boards to approve this position and the role in the courts is that it would help solidify certain operations in the village such as, "The way we file, the way things are reported, the timing, the personnel, it seems to work; it seems to work much smoother in the town than in the village," Johnson said.
"I think we're all aware of various methods we've taken to clean up some of the issues of having someone out," Trustee Susan Mackay said. "Most departments could run more efficiently, and having that opportunity is something we should do, but I think we run into a lot of problems and this board may not be able to solve those personnel issues. That is a union issue and it's going to be a union issue, but at this point in time somehow we're not allowed to mix apples and oranges. Why should it come down here?"
Trustee Joseph Cerrie also asked, "If you're the acting manager of those two clerks then why aren't they doing it your way? If you're the supervisor, that should be done now, I just don't understand that ... maybe it's me?"
"Every time we start to do this we have people hollering about it," Johnson responded. "I wish I didn't have to come here for this and that we could do it. Is it not possible to have the union in this discussion, is this a formal negotiation?"
Fredonia village administrator Richard St. George said the anything dealing with a town clerk within the village court system would have to be a formal negotiation.
"They have an arbitrated agreement that says anyone in that court has to be from the union in order to function in that court system otherwise they'll bring a grievance and everyone in village hall in CSEA is eligible to go up there, like a rotation," he explained. "I know it drives Judge Prince crazy because we have to do the wheel as far as rotating people down here for night court because there are people who are not trained and therefore they're going up there and doing this."
"One of the problems is you have two legal separate entities," village attorney Sam Drayo added. "The word supervisor has some inflammatory meaning to it; having someone from the town a different entity who is going to come in and supervise the village. What if Jack Boland went over to supervise the town highway department? Now there's nothing wrong with having Sue come over and help, give advice, so long as both bodies were acceptable to that."
At this point the position was no longer referred to as a supervisor role and instead more of a consulting role. Johnson said he's tried to contact the union representative regarding the proposal, but he has not returned his phone calls.
"I'm not going to speak for Jim (Leone) or the board, but it doesn't do well when you read something in the paper versus hearing it from someone first hand," Cerrie said.
"If it's a union issue lets find out what we can do," Johnson said. "I don't believe it's a union issue. It's a temporary fix, it's a temporary problem in the village so why not get the organizational problems dealt while we're dealing with the temporary issue."
Trustees Mackay and Adam Brown asked Johnson to bring the board a breakdown items relative to the chief court clerk and the amount of hours they would like her to be with village clerks, and how long the instruction would take. The board also tossed out some ideas of having the justices make it mandatory for the village clerks to spend a few hours with the town court each week to learn the system.
No decision was finalized and the discussion remains ongoing.
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