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Seventy Renews Call for End to Clerk of Quarter Sessions' Office

03/09/2010

PHILADELPHIA – March 8, 2010 – Zachary Stalberg, President and CEO of the non-partisan Committee of Seventy, called on Mayor Nutter and City Council to move swiftly to eliminate the independently-elected Office of the Clerk of Quarter Sessions.

Vivian Miller, the current office-holder, resigned during a press conference today led by the mayor. She has been under increasing pressure from the Committee of Seventy, the Philadelphia Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) and especially an ongoing investigative series in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Mayor Nutter refused to respond directly to repeated questions about the future of the office.

“The office is not performing effectively and it is not cheap to run,” Stalberg said. “I understand the mayor’s desire to be gracious to the retiring incumbent, but I wish he had told the taxpayers how he intends to permanently deal with this mess.”

The Committee of Seventy recommended eliminating this obscure office and transferring its necessary functions to the courts, in its March 2009 report, “NEEDLESS JOBS: Why Six Elected City Positions Should Die.”

The report, which also urged abolishing the independently elected City Commissioners, Sheriff and Register of Wills is available at http://www.seventy.org/OurViews_Needless_Jobs.aspx.

“Court officials should take a hard look at the Clerk’s tasks with an eye towards figuring out which are essential, and how they can be performed more efficiently and at a lower cost.” Stalberg said. “It would be a missed opportunity to simply relocate the operations from one part of the Criminal Justice Center to another.”

Given the city’s fiscal deficit, Stalberg added that collecting the $1 billion in bail owed by fugitives – a number reported by The Inquirer -- must be an immediate priority.

Stalberg pointed out that Allegheny County in Western Pennsylvania combined its Clerk of Courts, Prothonotary, Register of Wills and Jury Commissioners into one appointed office after the voters abolished them as independently elected offices in 2005.

PICA, the oversight board that monitors Philadelphia’s finances, reported in November 2009 that getting rid of the four obscure and patronage-laded row offices named in Seventy’s “Needless Jobs” report could save the city between $13-15 million annually.

Stalberg also urged City Council to act promptly to formally abolish an elected Clerk of Quarter Sessions, which does not require amending the City Charter, so that candidates do not start jockeying for the office. Under normal circumstances, it would be filled again next year. The law does not call for a special election to fill Miller’s unexpired term.

“There should be no misunderstanding that the office will not appear on the ballot during the 2011 municipal elections,” Stalberg said.

Stalberg said the city, which has been studying Seventy’s row office recommendations for the last year, should now move forward to abolish the City Commissioners and Sheriff’s offices, which require a Charter amendment. State action is necessary to do away with the Register of Wills office. “City officials demonstrated the ability to move swiftly to do away with the embattled Board of Revision of Taxes and now the Clerk of Quarter Sessions is on the way out. They should now show the same urgency with the other row offices,” he said.

In addition to Clerk of Quarter Sessions Miller, who will retire at the end of this month, two of the five row officer holders (Sheriff John Green and Register of Wills Ron Donatucci) are enrolled in the city’s DROP retirement program and could retire before the next term starts in January 2012. However, Stalberg expressed concern that these officials might follow the example of other officials who opted to receive their lump sum DROP retirement payment, retire for 24 hours and then return to office.

While the Clerk of Quarter Sessions’ duties are being taken over by the First Judicial District, Mayor Nutter said Robin Jones, Vivian Miller’s daughter and chief deputy, would help make sure there was “a seamless transition.” Nutter described Miller as “my friend” and expressed concern for her “talented staff of people.”

Common Pleas Court President Judge Pamela Dembe, the leader of the First Judicial District, which will assume Miller’s duties, hailed Miller as “a trailblazer.” And City Councilwoman Jannie L. Blackwell, the only member of Council to attend or speak at the press conference, said of Miller, “We in City Council regret losing her.”

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