Group repeats call to close clerk's office

INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

The Committee of Seventy yesterday again called on City Council to abolish the Clerk of Quarter Sessions Office, an obscure agency of the Philadelphia courts that has been plagued by management problems and poor record-keeping.

The call came a day after Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille told The Inquirer that he would order the courts to absorb many of the functions of the clerk's office, a move that he said would make the office more efficient and save money.

Yesterday, Zachary Stalberg, president and chief executive officer of the Committee of Seventy, a government watchdog group, endorsed Castille's decision.

But Stalberg said it made no sense to keep the elected position of clerk of quarter sessions, now held by Vivian T. Miller, once other court administrators had taken over its functions. The office maintains courts records, staffs courtrooms, handles bench warrants, and collects bail, court fines, costs, and fees.

"We are delighted that Castille is making this move," Stalberg said, "but it's not quite sufficient. The job of clerk of quarter sessions should disappear."

Miller referred calls to her attorney, Samuel C. Stretton, who said yesterday that abolishing the office would be a mistake. He faulted Castille, who has administrative power over the courts, for what he described as a misguided move.

"They want a scapegoat" for problems in the court system, he said.

Stretton said the clerk's position was important because it served as "an independent watchdog" not subject to the authority of top court administrators.

"I think there's still a lot of vitality in the office," he said. "It's not just a vestige from the horse-and-buggy era."

The Committee of Seventy said Miller, who is paid $110,000 annually, had enrolled in the city's Deferred Retirement Option Plan and is expected to retire after her term expires in January 2012. She would have to seek reelection the prior November.

For that reason, Stalberg said, "it is certainly absurd to elect a new clerk of quarter sessions when these functions can be handled somewhere else."

Stretton said he could not confirm that Miller planned to retire.

The position dates to the 1600s, but has lost many of its duties over the centuries.

Since the office is not covered by the City Charter, Council can abolish it without a referendum.

Miller, 73, supervises about 110 employees and a budget of about $5 million.

As The Inquirer reported last month in a series on the Philadelphia criminal justice system, the clerk's failure to keep computerized records has stymied the city's pledge to go after $1 billion in bail forfeited by fugitives from court. In the interview, Castille said he found the poor record-keeping unacceptable.

For years, city and state auditors have criticized Miller's financial management and urged her to hire a collection agency to go after the bail money and more than $280 million in fines, fees, and restitution. Miller had resisted that.

When the city Law Department finally stepped in and moved to hire a collection agency, it found the clerk's records inadequate.

The Committee of Seventy initially called for the abolition of the office in March, when it issued a report urging the city to eliminate all four row offices and the six elected officials who run them.