NORTHPORT, NY — Northport Village Court is closed “until further notice,” according to the village’s website.
The senior village clerk, assistant village clerk and prosecutor all quit, Ernest Pucillo, Northport Village trustee, told Patch.
“I don’t think this has ever happened in the court before,” Pucillo said. “It was really a dispute over salaries which caused everyone to leave, forcing the closure of the court. It’s certainly unprecedented.”
Find out what's happening in Northportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The assistant clerk quit because of low pay, Pucillo said. The senior clerk was offered a job with a higher salary and asked for a raise but did not get what she said was fair, Pucillo said.
The prosecutor then resigned because of professional and familial commitments, not because of a salary dispute or other employees, Deputy Mayor Meghan Dolan said.
Find out what's happening in Northportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Northport Village Mayor Donna Koch nor the village court did not immediately respond to Patch’s request for comment.
Village Justice Brian Trodden worked “really hard and diligently” to try and resolve the matter, Pucillo said. Pucillo said he thinks the village needs to increase the salaries of the clerk positions so it could reopen its court.
The village hired a prosecutor from the Town of Huntington who Pucillo said he expects will be approved on Tuesday night at the village board meeting.
The village still needs to hire a senior village clerk — and preferably an assistant clerk, too — so it could reopen the court, Pucillo said.
“There is a little bit of a learning curve, but if we got an experienced clerk and hired him or her, we could probably reopen and get the assistant [later],” Pucillo said. “It would have to be someone experienced who could go in and work with the judge and deal with all the mailings and arraignments and issues. So yeah, we definitely need one experienced clerk to get the court up and running again.”
The Suffolk County District Court will take on “important cases” for Northport residents such as domestic violence reports and DWIs where suspended licenses are involved, Pucillo said.
Click Here: Spain soccer tracksuit
“They’re our back up in the event there’s a problem with the court, and we definitely have a problem,” Pucillo said.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.