The conversion of documents to e-filing in the Nassau County clerk’s office has taken center stage in the race to head the office between two-term Republican incumbent Maureen O’Connell and Democratic challenger Laura Gillen.
O’Connell said her office was among the first county clerk’s offices in the state to put existing documents into electronic form, and is starting to do the same with legal filings.
“We’ve made dramatic improvements in efficiency and technology and we want to continue on that path,” O’Connell said.
But Gillen said Nassau County has been lagging behind many counties statewide in making the transition to electronic documents.
“My opponent talks about doing it, but she hasn’t done it. It should have been in place already. She’s making an election year push to do it,” Gillen said.
O’Connell said her office began making the transition to electronic filings when the state court system was moving to e-filing, using the county court interface.
She said the use of the county court system’s interface was a cost-efficient way to make the transition that saved taxpayers money.
“We were one of the first to adopt e-filing in New York State. We signed on when e-filing became available as a pilot county,” O’Connell said.
Most Long Island law firms were already doing legal e-filing, she said, so it was easy to translate the “paper intensive” civil cases, including tax appeal cases, to the county to electronic format.
“We’ve also done a lot of conversion of property records into electronic format,” O’Connell said.
She said that conversion enables more efficient title searches and accessing records of recent sales.
O’Connell said her office participated in a state court system e-filing pilot program during her first term in office. She said her office is currently working with the working with the county bar association to make the e-filing transition a “month by month” incremental process.
But Gillen said the transition has not kept pace with other municipalities, such as the Westchester County.
“They’ve been slow. My opponent want to say she was instrumental in bringing e-filing to the court system. That’s disingenuous,” Gillen said. “She was just there when New York State brought e-filing to each county clerk’s office.”
Gillen said, if elected, she would seek to accelerate the transition to e-filing and streamline the county clerk’s office operations.
“The first thing is to make that office is to make it more efficient and bring it under control,” Gillen said.
She said her first action would be to request a comptroller’s audit of the county clerk’s office to eliminate waste and “embrace technology.”
Asked where she believes waste exists in the clerk’s office, Gillen said she’s not sure where there is waste without an audit.
Gillen currently works as counsel to the Uniondale law firm of Westerman Ball Ederer Miller & Sharfstein, LLP, where she has practiced commercial litigation since 2005.
While at New York University’s School of Law, she worked at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP and was invited to join the firm as a litigation associate after earning her juris doctor degree in 2000, focusing on securities regulation, defamation, employment and intellectual property. Gillen said she also participated in the firm’s pro bono program, assisting victims of domestic violence.
Gillen said her interest in getting involved in politics was sparked by Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s attempt to turn the Coliseum project into a publicly-funded initiative.
“That really engaged me in what was going on in Nassau County politics,” Gillen said. “I thought I could contribute by getting involved and being part of a team that would put Nassau County on its feet again.
Gillen, who lives in Rockville Centre with her husband and her four young children, said she thinks it’s time for a change of leadership in the clerk’s office is overdue.
“It’s been in control of one party, the Republican party, for 29 years. And that leads to complacency, and inertia,” she said.
A resident of East Williston, O’Connell was elected Nassau County Clerk in 2005 and re-elected to a second term in 2009.
O’Connell, who lives in East Williston with her husband, Don, first held elective office as trustee and deputy mayor of the Village of East Williston from 1991 through 1998. She then became the first woman elected to represent the 17th state Assembly District in 1998, going on to serve four terms.
Before entering public office, O’Connell worked as a registered nurse at North Shore-LIJ Hospital. She still gived flu shot inoculations around the county each year. She is also a lawyer, receiving her degree from St, John’s University.
O’Connell cites her two terms in office as a prime reason to be returned to office for a third term.
“Experience in this job is very important. This is not a job you step into and be able to function at a very effective level,” O’Connell said.
