The Southold town board is poised to hire a new justice court director and two part-time court officers at Tuesday night’s town board meeting.
Southold board members will vote to appoint Leanne Reilly to the position of Justice Court Director for the Justice Court, effective January 5, 2015, at a rate of $80,000 per year.
At Tuesday’s work session, the board discussed Reilly. “She is very well-qualified,” said Town Councilman Bill Ruland. Reilly has been the justice court director in Westhampton Beach since May, 2010. “She has more than enough experience to know how justice courts works. We spoke with her about our expectation that the justice court is up and running efficiently, with every report filed, i’s dotted and t’s crossed.”
“She was impressive,” agreed Councilman Jim Dinizio.
Justice Louisa Evans added, “That is not to say that the court reports have not been timely.”
Ruland added that auditors have noted points that needed to be addressed. “And some of the financial reporting, especially, wasn’t timely,” he said.
Dinizio added that Reilly would teach the board how the court runs. “We should know that,” he said, adding that he’d like to have her meet with the board on a monthly basis.
Ruland said he concurred that the board should “sit down with her and set out our expectations.”
The board also discussed hiring two part-time court officers at Tuesday’s work session. The board will vote to hire the pair at tonight’s meeting, which will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall on Main Road. Dinizio said all who applied were good candidates.
Candidates include George K. Gross, of Hampton Bays, a former New York City police officer, who would be hired part time at a rate of $29.22 per hour, not to exceed 17.5 hours per week, and Steven F. Ficner, of Mattituck, who would be hired as a part-time court officer at a rate of $29.22 per hour, not to exceed 17.5 hours per week.
Councilwoman Jill Doherty said there is room in the 2015 budget for three part-time justice court officer hires.
Recently, the board said they were taking “short term” steps to address what some consider potentially deadly conditions in the justice court.
Doherty said she and others on a committee formed to address the issue have met numerous times.
So far, the group has decided to hire a second part-time court officer, she said.
Another short-term solution includes poles with ropes, that will section off the line of those visiting the town’s justice court. A canopy will be erected outside Town Hall to protect those individuals during inclement weather, said Jeff Standish, director of the town’s department of public works. The line will ensure that members of the general public heading to Town Hall on other issues can access the general hallway, which will remain open. Blinds to the justice court windows will be closed, Doherty said. The right side door of the justice court will remain locked from the outside, she added.
In addition, other improvements include a handheld metal detector that one court officer, who will be stationed at the main door to the justice court, will use. Sheets of bulletproof plexiglass will also be installed behind the dais, Standish said, to protect judges if they need to “duck” during gunfire.
The bulletproof glass will also be installed in the windows of the tax receiver’s office.
Also, a door on the left of the Town Hall meeting room, beside the dais, will be locked, with a code needed to enter.
“This is better than what we are doing now,” Doherty said, adding that both Justices William Price and Rudolph Bruer approved of the short-term plan, as long as long-term solutions were still being actively sought.
A grant, Doherty said, is being pursued that would pay for a metal detector in justice court, as well as upgrades to the court.
For the short term, Doherty said the plan is to hire a seasonal police officer who is qualified and available to start right away and work part-time, ending the stint just as the seasonal term begins in May. The town will go through civil service procedures to hire two court officers once current court officer Donato Cappabianca, who announced his resignation recently, finishes up at the end of the year.
Doherty said eventually, three court officers in total could be hired if the town board gives the okay.
Looking to the long-term, Doherty said the consensus is that the Town Hall meeting room “is not the place to have the court.”
A recent trip to Southampton Town Justice Court, which was moved to a separate facility in Hampton Bays for years ago, was helpful, Doherty said.
Councilman Bob Ghosio said society has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. “We have no choice but to address safety and health concerns.”
Doherty added that the current hire of the part-time seasonal employee is not a competitive position; that individual can be appointed, she said.
The plan is to have long-term solutions addressed within two years, Doherty said.
In October, just days after sending a letter pleading with the town board to focus safety in Southold Town justice court, court officer Cappabianca announced his resignation.
Southold Town Justice William Price spoke out to SoutholdLOCAL about the lack of security in the town’s justice court.
“Safety is a serious issue, especially for people in the gallery,” he said. “The severity of the issue was brought to the forefront some years ago when a questionnaire was given to all employees within Town Hall as to what dangers they perceived — and they perceived that the justice court on Fridays was extremely dangerous.”
Eventually, court dates were split so that traffic violation cases were seen by town justices on Mondays, with criminal cases slated for Fridays.
“That has helped,” Price said. “Before that, I would have a person with an expired inspection sticker sitting next to a person charged with some form of domestic violence. This separated the less serious from the more serious offenses.”
When asked if he has concerns for his own well-being, Price said, “Of course I worry about my own safety, and I worry about the safety of other people on the bench with me. I worry primarily about the people out in the gallery, because they’re sitting there completely unprotected. Safety is a major issue.”
After Cappabianca cried out about justice court conditions he deemed unsafe and possibly deadly, the town board headed to Southampton’s justice court in Hampton Bays to seek ideas and solutions.
Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said Dinizio and Doherty are town board liaisons to a new committee formed to examine the lack of security in the town’s justice court.
The group was formed after a letter was sent to the board by Cappabianca regarding security concerns — including “six to eight knives” he said he’d taken from defendants standing in the courtroom.
When investigating a grant in the past, the town had been told that three court officers are needed, Doherty said. “We are working with civil service to create two more court officer positions. The long-term solution we are talking about is possibly putting a separate building behind Town Hall as opposed to upgrading the meeting hall to proper safety practices. Southampton has done this so we want to look at that building to get some ideas. This is just the beginning of the discussion of how best to serve the town and the safety of the employees and the public while operating our justice court.”
Cappabianca has said he believed the lack of security could prove life-threatening at Southold Town justice court, a facility that sees a high volume of cases each year — and the only town justice court on the East End without a metal detector.
Cappabianca, a former senior special agent for the U.S. Customs Service and a former law enforcement officer for 27 years, assigned to U.S. Secret Service protection detail, said he believes he is qualified to address the issue of security in the courtroom.
During his time at Southold Town justice court, Cappabianca said he’s taken “approximately six to eight knives” from defendants standing directly before the judge and right next to the assistant district attorney.
“Two of these knives were classified as illegal weapons and resulted in the arrest of the owners. I was only able to observe the knives because the owners failed to completely conceal them,” he wrote. “I could not even begin to venture a guess as to how many other knives and other weapons are concealed and carried into and out of the courtroom, on any given date, by both defendants and visitors to the court.”
Defendants, Cappabianca said, “are from all walks of life” and some, even gang members.
There are no security checks of bags, he added, and no metal detector at Town Hall, where justice court is held.
“There are too many scenarios and reasons why people will commit a violent act,” Cappabianca wrote. “The town has been extremely fortunate that no acts of violence have yet occurred in the courtroom.”
Over the past three years, Cappabianca said he has experienced “two to three incidents with defendants that could have easily gone from verbal to physical.” He added, “I believe the town is being short-sighted regarding the courtroom security. One unfortunate incident in the courtroom could result in physical bodily harm or, in the worse case scenario, death to one or more individuals” such as innocent bystanders or court personnel.
Cappabianca said if the town were to secure a magnometer, or metal detector, “a significant threat to security could be diminished.”
He added that he did not know of any other court that handles the volume of cases Southold does, without a magnometer manned by a court officer. “The cost of the equipment and the salary of for an additional court officer cannot compare to the cost of just one violent incident in the courtroom,” he said. Cappabianca added he hoped the matter would be addressed in the coming budget season.
Russell said that the town board had convened a working group that will identify the needs. “We will implement a capital budget to make the upgrades,” he said.
When asked if a magnometer would be included in those plans, Russell responded, “Any improvements needed will be included in the plan.”
At a recent town board work session, Doherty said while the town was exploring grant options for the magnometer, other options included purchasing used equipment for use by the town.
And at a recent town board meeting, the board voted unanimously to authorize the justice court to submit a grant application to the New York State Unified Court System requesting a grant for the maximum amount available; at the work session the board said the funds would be used for security upgrades.
Those concerned for safety have noted that the justice court has windows and a door on the right side of the courtroom. While a new justice court had been discussed before the market crash years ago, so far, the temporary facilities at Town Hall have been in place for over 20 years.
According to Arlene Hackel, spokeswoman for the New York State Office of Court Administration, while there are court security guidelines and best practices in place across New York State, “There is no mandate/requirement upon the municipality to operate a magnetometer. Since justice courts are funded by the local municipality, it may be a matter of lacking the funds to pay for personnel to operate.”
In recent years, she said, there have been facility and security upgrades implemented in justice courts around the state; justice courts may apply for Justice Court Assistance Project (JCAP) funding for facilities/security-related upgrades.
Price said before the market crash, the board had explored a separate facility for justice court and plans were even drawn up.
As it stands, he said, “The town meeting room is designed to be a meeting room. It’s not designed to be a courtroom. The letter that our court officer wrote was extremely accurate. There is no place to segregate prisoners brought from the county other than in the jury box.”
In addition, there is no other usable location than within the meeting room to pay fines; in most courts, fines are paid at a separate window, he said.
The justice court trailer is used for storage, too, Price said, with “cluttered” files because there is no room for file cabinets. “We do not have anywhere the sufficient storage we need for our files,” he said.
Meanwhile, the new justice court director position created by the Southold Town board has at least one resident still demanding answers.
In July, Jill Franke came before the town board to revive a discussion held at an earlier town board meeting, regarding the starting salary of $80,000 voted upon for a new town justice court director.
Franke reminded the board that they’d said two affirmative responses had been received from those who’d taken the civil service exam, but those individuals “did not have qualifications on the municipal level to run the court as a director.” Franke asked how the board had come to that decision, when civil service had qualified to take the exam in the first place.
“We have not just the right, but the responsibility, to establish criteria for that position,” Russell said. He added that Franke had submitted a Freedom of Information Law request for the names of those who’d applied for the post and she’d received the information. “But you’re not going to sit here and ask about their qualifications,” he said.
The civil service test, Russell said, “establishes baseline qualifications, but we have no obligation to use minimum civil service guildelines.”
Civil service, Russell said, provided the town with a list of individuals willing to work in Zone 1, or Southold Town; the town would still have to hire from the civil service list, and only if an appropriate candidate could not be found throughout all of Suffolk County, could the town hire outside of the list.
Franke asked if medical benefits were an additional cost, above the $80,000 starting salary.
Russell said the job was ful-time ane would include medical benefits after the standard waiting period.
Franke also gave comparisons to other neighboring towns, stating that their salaries for justice court directors were much lower.
“We think $80,000 is the salary we need to get to, based on those working as court directors in other towns,” Russell said. “We’ve canvassed the landscape.”
Franke said similar positions in East Hampton, Riverhead, and East Hampton offered starting salaries ranging from $44,924 to $62,000. “So $80,000 is a lot of money for a job that my mother did for almost 60 years for less than $60,000,” she said.
The topic was brought up at a previous town board meeting. At the June 17 meeting, the town board voted to amend the rate of pay for the position, which was established recently, with a starting salary of $80,000, up to $94,553.38 for a level 5 employee.
Some residents had questions about the board raising the salary before a candidate had even been chosen.
Russell said a list had been given by civil service to the board, who canvassed the names and found no qualified candidates, so the decision had been made to raise the starting salary to widen the pool.
Linda Goldsmith of East Marion asked how the board could have seen the list when it had not yet been generated for 2014. She said she knew of a number of individuals who had taken the most recent civil service test that would be qualified.
Russell said initially, the starting salary was proposed to be from $63,000 to $68,000.
Cutchogue resident Benja Schwartz said with town justices making $68,000, the new director would be earning a greater amount.
The supervisor reminded that the new justice court director would be a full-time post.
Russell said after canvassing the civil service list with two affirmative responses, the board decided to raise the starting salary to generate interest from “more experienced people”.
Schwartz asked if town residents had been considered.
Russell said the town did not “have the luxury” of an at-large appointment, since it’s a civil service list. “We can’t just appoint anyone we want,” he said.
The supervisor added that the position was created and the salary discussed in a public forum, following correct civil service procedure. Although the board canvassed, not enough interest was created, so the decision was made to elevate the salary, he said.
“There are a unique set of circumstances that need to be addressed affirmatively by this town,” Russell said.
The move to establish the new position came in April, just over a month after controversy erupted in the Southold Town justice court with the arrest of longtime justice court clerk Christine Stulsky, who surrendered and was arrested in March, and later arraigned at Suffolk County criminal court, pleading not guilty to felony charges after an assistant district attorney said she stole “in excess of” $50,000 in bail and other fees from Town Hall to buy groceries, pet food, and cigarettes.
Russell told SoutholdLOCAL that although the town has seen “irregularities or discrepancies” in audits of the justice court reports in the past few years and requested “corrective action” by judges, so far, “no such action has been taken.”
Russell was responding to a request by SoutholdLOCAL for information, after a letter was sent out by Art Tillman, chair of the Southold Town Democratic Committee, describing a visit by guest Brian Hughes, who spoke at a committee meeting about the responsibilities of a court justice.
According to the explanation given, the New York State Office of Court Administration does not audit the justice court receipts, as Russell has said in a past interview — the OCA only collects reports from each individual town justice, who oversees his own account.
That would mean, in the case of the only Justice Rudy Bruer, for whom Stulsky worked, that only he and Stulsky would have authority to collect bail fees and monitor that justices’ account, according to the explanation given.
“The town has an annual audit done of each department, including the justice court,” Russell said in an email. “The audit consists of the general operational procedures of that office. The report has noted deficiencies and discrepancies each year for the past few years. We have brought these to the attention of the judges and have requested corrective action. To date, no such action has taken place.”
He added, “The bail account is held in trust by the justice court. It is not part of the general allocations of Southold Town and not subject to our audit. The reports required by New York State’s OCA are detailed and lengthy. At any time the OCA sees irregularities or discrepancies, it has the full authority to request an audit be performed by the New York State Comptroller’s Office.”
Russell said the town board relies on its department heads to manage staff. “In this instance we rely on our judges, who are monitored by OCA. We cannot make an elected official take action. We can only request it. It should be noted again that any accounts monitored by OCA, such as fines, etc., or any account held in trust by the justice court, such as bail, etc., are not part of the general allocations of the town and not subject to the audit performed. All reports filed with OCA are copied and sent to the town board. The OCA has oversight of these reports, not Southold Town.”
Stulsky was arrested and charged with one count of grand larceny in the second degree, a felony, one count of defrauding the government, a felony and one count of official misconduct, a misdemeanor.
Judge James Hudson set bail at $5,000 cash and $10,000 bond; Stulsky had a bail bondman at the arraignment.
In April, the town board voted unanimously to establish the position of justice court director. According to a duties statement provided in an email by Russell after the meeting, Reilly will supervise the collection, deposit, and recording of all justice court fees, including entry of civil, motor vehicle and criminal court cases.
In her new post, Reilly will also supervise the maintenance of court files and records, supervise the preparation of monthly reports to the Office of the State Comptroller, detailing each case and fine or sentence imposed, prepare court dockets, supervise and participate in drawing of juries for civil or criminal cases, train and evaluate justice court clerical staff, maintain time records for justice court personnel, supervise legal document preparation for the court, prepare certications of convictions for submission to the county clerk, and assist town justices by answering correspondence pertinent to the court.
