Town courts back in the news

The state Senate voted yesterday to allow three Lewis County towns to use the same justice and centralize court proceedings.

Not really earth-shattering, but for lots of people appearing in a town court can be. After the New York Times exposed a number of controversial–and illegal–practices by some town justices in the North Country, there was a flood of stories about individual experiences in these courts.

With the Assembly set to take up the issue in January of combining town courts, it’s a good time to ask the following:

What has it been like to interact with town courts and town justices?
If you’re a town justice or work for one, what’s your perspective on the system? the people? the issues?
What do we need from our local courts? Are we getting it?

You can comment below. We’d also love to hear directly from people about their interaction and/or work with these courts.

You can send me an e-mail directly at [email protected]. As always, your identity will be protected and you can talk off the record, if you prefer.