County Clerk Candidates Debate at Bergen Community College

The candidates for Bergen County Clerk sparred over staffing levels and fees at a candidates forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters at Bergen Community College on Tuesday.

Elizabeth Randall, the Republican candidate and the incumbent Clerk, said her office had collected about $43 million in fees during her tenure, which started in January after former Clerk Kathleen Donovan was elected County Executive.

Randall, a Westwood resident, said the Clerk's office was one of the few county agencies that brought in so much more above its costs, which run about $4 million a year.

But John Hogan, a former Freeholder and Democratic candidate for Clerk, said he would consider changing the fees to ease the burden on county residents.

"If you're bringing in so much in funds, maybe you want to take a look at the fees," Hogan said.

Hogan, of Northvale, also said he would evaluate the staffing levels at the Clerk's office, comparing the Bergen County office, which has 46 full-time workers, to Essex County, which has 40. Randall asserted that the Clerk's office was not overstaffed.

In fact, she said, the number of workers was a low for the office, compared to past years when upwards of 70 people worked for the Clerk. Randall added that she cut overtime at the Clerk's office.

"I am very confident that where we are now is where we should be," Randall said.

Hogan criticized Randall for errors he said the Clerk's office committed during her term.

"You've seen the course of this year, during Ms. Randall's tenure of office that the wrong ballots were put into machines, the wrong sample ballots were mailed out," he said.

Randall said that because she would be appearing on the ballots this year, she had recused herself from any decisions on the sample ballots, delegating the responsibility to her senior deputy clerk.

Earlier in the day, the candidates for Bergen County Surrogate participated in a forum of their own, with incumbent Michael Dressler touting his 15 years of experience as surrogate over Republican challenger Andrew Cimiluca.

"Michael has been in for 15 years, but the surrogate office is not for better or for worse, until death do us part," Cimiluca said.

Cimiluca, an attorney for more than 25 years, said his experience as a public defender, prosecutor and mediator would help him perform the duties of the Surrogate's Court, which handles the assets of people who die. Cimiluca said he would make an effort to put more of the information the Court handles online.

Dressler argued that putting too much information online would cost the county some of the $1.2 million in fees to allow people to access that information each year. Cimiluca countered, saying the Court could charge fees online, as well.

"I bought a vacuum cleaner online the other day," he said. "It wasn't free."

The candidates ended up answering several questions about what exactly the Surrogate does, which Cimiluca said was a sign that there needed to be more outreach to residents about the work of the Surrogate Court.