The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

“It’s a space issue, isn’t it?” remarked Peru Town Attorney Donald Biggs at the Peru Town Board’s August 25, 2014 meeting following a contentious discussion between town counselors and Judge James Kirby. The counselors voted to change the time Peru Town Court convenes disagreeing with the points made by Judge Kirby. A temporary pay increase for Judge Kirby was also on the Board’s agenda. The increase was not approved.

Peru Town Court proceedings have been convening at 2 p.m. with defendants, attorneys and family members often entering the room at about 1:30 p.m. At the same time, members of the public come into the Town Hall to pay water/sewer bills, taxes or to transact other business. Some residents have been uncomfortable when they have encountered inmates in handcuffs and town employees have had to contend with court being conducted just a few feet from their workspace. Changing the time when court convenes has been discussed in the past but no action was taken previously because Peru’s Court is held at the same time as the Town of Plattsburgh Court. According to Judge Kirby some attorneys represent clients in both courts and convening court at 2 p.m. was begun to assist them. Attorneys typically come to Peru first and then go to the Town of Plattsburgh to represent other clients.

Supervisor Glushko suggested convening court at 3 or 3:30 p.m. Judge Kirby responded that the August 25^th meeting was the first time he had heard about the Board’s concern about court hours. He said convening court at 2 p.m. has worked well and that a later start time could mean court ending at 9 p.m. or later. After some discussion the Board decided the Court would convene at 3:30 p.m. for a two-month trial period. Kirby told the Board that in the future he wanted to be directly informed of any matters concerning his office.

A second spirited discussion involved a proposed local law which would have given Judge Kirby a 50% temporary pay raise for the period October 1, 2014 to December 31^st. Kirby has been handling all the judicial workload since Judge Jack Lawliss’ July 21^st resignation. On July 28^th the Board passed a resolution granting Kirby the 50% increase effective August 1^st only to later discover that passage of a local law would be required. Judge Kirby has been of the opinion that since he has been handling the workload of two judges, he should receive proportional compensation.

Counselor Kregg Bruno commented that when the Board agreed to a 50% pay raise Kirby reduced the number of weekly court sessions from four to two and he didn’t believe an increase was warranted. Kirby responded, “I don’t get paid enough to hold court four nights a month. It’s not about court nights, it’s about workload.” (Kirby’s pay is $17,401 per year). Kirby mentioned that in addition to holding court he conducts many arraignments and reviews hundreds of tickets. Kirby finally said to the Board, “Do what you want to do!” Counselors noted many of Kirby’s arraignments are being done as a courtesy to the State Police and that many arraignments involve crimes committed in the Town of Plattsburgh, which does not extend the same courtesy to State Police. When the pay raise came to vote counselors McBrayer, Bruno, Douglass and Supervisor Glushko voted no. (Counselor McDonald was excused from the meeting.)

During the public comment portion of the meeting and after Judge Kirby had left the meeting, Court Clerk Holly Stone stated that the reduction from four to two court sessions had been planned and was coincidental. She also stated that the court’s workload has increased. The Board did not change its decision. Kirby will not get the raise.

In other action:

A Walking Trail Ribbon Cutting Ceremony will be held in early October. Signs will be erected asking people using the trail to park at Heyworth-Mason Park or Sullivan Park. They are not allowed to park at the Route 22 trail entrance/exit point. Click here to see the Walking Trail Brochure.

The council voted to purchase and install a security camera for the front of the Town Hall from Security Concepts at a cost of $533.73.

Supervisor Glushko reported that the interest rate to finance several major projects would be less than expected. The Town will issue a 22-year bond in the amount of $1,072,561 at an interest rate of 3.39% to finance $330,336 for Hurricane Irene related repairs, $180,000 for the Highway Department roof repairs, $301,225 for the Fuller Road bridge replacement and $261,000 for the Walking Trail.

A public hearing is scheduled on Thursday, September 4^th at 6:30 p.m. regarding the transfer of the Charter Communications franchise agreement to Comcast Inc.