Ossining Officials Working Towards 2012 Court Merger

Village and Town officials are working towards merging the two municipalities' courts by January 2012. The move to consolidate was made to reduce duplication within the two court systems. There are two hurdles left for the consolidation to occur. The first is the Governor signing the consolidation bill. The second is a legislative act that needs to be passed by the Town and the Village to finalize the consolidation.

The two municipalities intend on letting Ossining’s appointed Village Justice’s contracts expire at the end of the year. That will leave the Town’s two justices in place. However, the Town and the Village plan on adding a third elected Town Justice to the court. Adding the third Town justice was another reason why the two Ossinings needed to get Legislative approval for the consolidation. “We have to figure out the financial arrangement. We need to figure out the logistics—how the courtroom space itself is going to be used, because right now one side is used for the Town, the other side is used for the Village. So we’ll probably be moving that around,” said Town of Ossining Supervisor Catherine Borgia.

Village Mayor Bill Hanauer says the merger is part of the Village and Town's continual efforts to streamline processes and create additional efficiencies. “For 20-years the two municipalities have shared the provision of a large number of essential services. Once the two Boards have agreed to all terms and conditions of an inter-municipal agreement, we will merge all functions of the two courts, thereby providing more efficient judicial services. We already share the Court facilities. No non-judicial employee will be laid off,” said Hanauer.

Patch will continue to bring you the latest on the Ossining courts merger, and inform you when the Governor either signs or vetoes the bill which would allow the merger to happen.