Ulster town justice Susan Kesick earlier this month asked town officials to reconsider plans to hire a fifth full time clerk, asking instead that they maintain the positions of two part-time clerks as a means of maintaining balance.
Since early October, Kesick and fellow town justice Kelly Flood-Myers have been served by two full-time clerks and one part-time clerk each; previously the clerks were assigned to the court rather than individual justices. Kesick said she was attending the Tuesday, November 2 public hearing on the town’s 2024 budget because she’d been previously unable to get her questions answered by town officials. Responses to her queries were given by deputy supervisor Clayton Van Kleeck at a town board meeting two weeks later.
“The Town of Ulster court is one of the busiest courts in New York State and until recently was a highly functional court,” Kesick said. “After the first preliminary budget was sent out in October, I requested a meeting with the town board to discuss the court’s budget and I was not given that courtesy. No one ever got back to me…we did not sit down.”
Kesick said she was surprised to find the fifth full time clerk position in the budget, and with it the removal of two part-time clerks. The new full-time clerk position would pay a salary of $41,184 for 2024, and according to town officials would focus on the office as a whole rather than an individual justice.
“My first question is, who asked for a fifth full-time clerk?” Kesick said. “Can anyone answer that question for me? I’m just asking to have a little bit of consideration because I was not given the courtesy to sit down with anyone.”
At the October 16 town board meeting, Van Kleeck said that all department heads, including town justices, were e-mailed budget packages for review on Friday, September 29. He also disputed Kesick’s claim that town officials failed to respond to requests to discuss the budget.
“Any department head can request an appointment with a supervisor to review the budget,” Van Kleeck said.“There was no request received from the judges for a meeting. Budget items regarding the court clerk’s office were discussed with the judges during several personnel meetings over the past two months.”
Individually assigning the clerks to individual justices occurred during a town board meeting held on Thursday, October 5, with a resolution noting a request from both town justices for the personnel committee to intervene in staffing and personnel issues. The resolution also referenced a personnel committee meeting attended by both judges and David Dellehunt, a mediator and consultant from the New York State Office of Court Administration, with a resolution unsuccessful. The resolution further claimed the operational management of the court was “at an impasse and is dysfunctional,” and following the lead of other municipalities with similar issues, town officials opted to assign clerks to individual justices.
During the October 5 meeting, Town Supervisor James E. Quigley, III expressed regret that the issue had reached that specific conclusion.
“It is with great reluctance that the board is being forced to take this matter into its hands, but it is because we as the town board, are concerned about the level of service that is being rendered to the constituents within the Town of Ulster, Ulster County and New York State,” Quigley said. “It is imperative that the standard of services rendered by the justice court be improved so that the constituents I just named are appropriately served.”
On November 2, Kesick said she would prefer to keep the staff as currently configured.
“My office functions very well with two full-time (clerks) and one part-time clerk,” Kesick said. “I’m requesting that you take out the fifth full-time clerk.” Kesick added that she would like the town budget to include raises for her full- and part-time clerks as previously requested.
On November 16, Van Kleeck said that raises are contractual for court clerks.
“All town clerk positions, whether exempt or not follow regular salary schedules,” Van Kleeck said. “Those that are members of the (Laborers’ International Union of North America) Local 17 agreement follow that contract. The others follow a similar scheduled agreement.”
The next meeting of the Ulster Town Board is scheduled for Thursday, December 7.
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