To the editor:

As court clerk for 14 years for the Pelham Town Court, I recently retired on Jan. 31. In those 14 years, I clerked for Judge Anthony Pasquantonio, Judge Stephen Huff, Judge John DeChiaro, Judge John Gardner and, for the final three years, Judge Adam Kagan.

With this upcoming election, I feel I need to shed some light on the campaign statement by Kagan. In 2019 when Kagan ran for the town justice position, I admired his confidence to run, since he was not familiar with criminal law, which is a critical component to and, in my opinion, required in order to be successful as a judge. When he was surprisingly elected, I knew this would be a challenge for him, and for me as well, with him not knowing criminal law or court procedures. His saving grace was having Gardner sitting with him for two years on the bench to guide him. To date, Kagan has not done any trials, leaving the added responsibility on Gardner. When Covid-19 struck, it made all the courts go primarily remote and digital. With the assistance of the New York State court administration, the justices established remote and digital court procedures that were organized and managed by the court staff. It made it less stressful for me that Kagan was at least “tech savvy.” However, whatever procedures that were previously in place, such as email, fax and even documents with carbon copy, were documents and tools that we were told we must utilize by individuals in other departments, such as the prison, etc., outside of the Pelham Town Court.

With regard to defendants who required a translator, we used an in-person translator rather than a video call-translation service. This provided a more efficient service with less margin for error for misinterpretation and possible technical difficulties, which could delay court proceedings. The court, assistant district attorneys, defendants’ attorneys and the defendants expressed on several occasions that they preferred this translation service over a tele-translation service, as it saved time and was much more effective. In person translation is more efficient in many ways and certainly not “outdated.”

The justices for Pelham have full time jobs and perform their duties as judge on a part-time basis. When court is in session on Wednesday mornings, judges are required to take time away from their full- time employment to do so. About a year into his judgeship, Kagan adjusted the Wednesday morning court time from 9 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. to benefit himself, not the residents, because hardly anyone showed up at 8:30 a.m.

Thanks to Gardner and Chief Constable Steve Conte working together to get a security assessment of what our court needed (and me writing the grant), security measures were upgraded a couple of years ago. Kagan wanted to feel more secure walking to his car after court, so he suggested to the chief that we implement the usage of silent-alarm key fobs that could be utilized in the event of an emergency, in or around the courthouse. The utilization of said key fobs began in 2022.

All constables are hired by the chief and then introduced to the court staff and judges. The judges are not the individuals who are responsible for hiring any constable staff, so it was, in fact, Conte who hired Vylinda Adorno Marrero, who was the first female constable to serve Pelham Town Court in the past 13 years.

To date, all of the attorneys appearing in Pelham court are culturally and ethnically diverse, and they contact the court requesting that they be added to the assigned counsel list, thus allowing them to appear in Pelham court.

The most frequently used forms had always been on the court website until Covid hit, when additional forms needed to be added.

Pelham court’s consistent payment process: Credit cards (except for parking tickets), online and cash. How is this inconsistent, as Kagan has stated?

Due to the increased volume of Pelham court cases over the years, the court has been reaching out to the Pelham Town Board for more space, but has had no success thus far. That matter lies in its hands, again, not Kagan’s.

Most astute attorneys and judges know the court clerks facilitate the court at great capacity and to insult or misrepresent the court is a direct reflection on the court clerks and is unacceptable.

Vote former Town Justice John DeChiaro in the 2023 election!

Patty Tobin

69 Fairfax Dr.

Warwick, R.I.