A new justice court director position created by the Southold Town board has at least one resident still demanding answers.
On Tuesday, Jill Franke came before the town board to revive a discussion held at a July 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,” Southold Town Supervisor Scott 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 stil 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 Russell, who spoke about the resolution at the work session, establishing a position is a civil service process.
“You establish the position within the office so you have the ability to fill it, if you want to,” he said, adding that a duties statement had been submitted.
Councilwoman Louisa Evans said at the time the idea was first discussed, that while she thought the idea was a good one, she’d like to see the duties statement.
According to a duties statement provided in an email by Russell after the meeting, the person in the new position would supervise the collection, deposit, and recording of all justice court fees, including entry of civil, motor vehicle and criminal court cases.
The justice court director would 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.
