December 2016 Holiday Greetings from Court Leaders... "I am truly grateful this holiday season to work with trial court and appellate judges, court clerks, probation officers, court officers, and other court staff who endeavor to provide fair, equal, and efficient justice to every litigant, every day. I thank you for your hard work, dedication, and commitment in 2016, and wish you and your families a joyous holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year." - Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants "As we pause during this holiday season to count our blessings, our greatest thanks go to the men and women of the Trial Court, who day after day provide justice through teamwork and responsiveness, despite operational challenges. What we do and how we do it make a major difference in the lives of the people we serve. Thank you for doing it well. Best wishes for a happy holiday season and all the best to you and yours in the New Year." - Trial Court Chief Justice Paula Carey and Court Administrator Harry Spence Trial Court Celebrates National Adoption Day Order in the court: Amayah, 20 months, wields the gavel in Brockton's Courtroom 7 as Suffolk County Probate and Family Court Judge Kevin Connelly and dads Joseph and Christian look on. Some 125 children officially joined 99 forever families in adoption ceremonies held last month in Brockton, Worcester and Boston. "There is no better day for the Juvenile Court or the Probate and Family Court than National Adoption Day," said Barnstable County ­ town of Plymouth Juvenile Court First Justice James Torney, who emceed the opening ceremony at the Brockton Trial Court, which served as the media site for the statewide event. Media coverage included stories in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and The Brockton Enterprise. See photos Trial Court FY18 Budget Request Heads to Governor The Trial Court recently submitted its FY18 budget request to the Executive Office for Administration and Finance. The budget request included maintenance funding of approximately $650 million as well as eight individual budget modules. The modules reflect various Trial Court initiatives, including Specialty Courts, Housing Court expansion, and Security. The Governor is expected to release his budget recommendations onJanuary 25th. "Based on decreased revenue projections, we expect fiscal year 2018 to be a tight year," says Court Administrator Harry Spence. "However, thanks to increased efficiencies such as our digitization initiative, we are well prepared to meet any challenges that the year ahead may bring." 2016 Excellence Awards Highlight Trial Court Staff Achievements Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants congratulates this year's Excellence Award recipients at the Adams Courthouse in Boston earlier this month. 2016 Excellence Awards program 2016 Excellence Award winners' achievements See photos Facilities & Security Team Up to Clean Up After the "Great Worcester Flood" All together now: On the evening of October 21st, the Worcester Trial Court complex experienced a record-breaking rainstorm that dumped nearly six inches of rain on the city in under two hours. Team members from Facilities and Security quickly jumped into action to control the flooding that threatened the courthouse. The cost of the clean up is estimated to exceed $900,000. Some team members and their supervisors are shown above. Front row, from left: Sr. Maintenance Tech Matthew Nierodzinski, Custodian Padeusz "Teddy" Osowski, Custodian Michael Smith, Chief Court Officer John Noonan, Custodians Michael Dame, Custodian Fergus O'Grady, Facilities Supervisor John Leary, Custodian Ronald Perron Jr., Regional Director of Security Robin Yancey, Director of Facilities John Bello, and Regional Manager of Facilities Michael Norman. From top row, left: Deputy Director of Facilities Anthony Duros, Maintenance Technician Blaise Lee, Assistant Chief Court Officer David Deignan, and Chief Court Officer Timothy O'Leary. Click "Read more" to see an event timeline and list of all courthouse personnel who helped mitigate the flood damage in Worcester. Read more Court Leaders Visit Lawrence Court Service Center The Lawrence Court Service Center (CSC) welcomed Trial Court leaders and guests to a special ceremony earlier this month. Those in attendance included, from left: Lawrence District Court's Clerk-Magistrate Keith McDonough and First Justice Lynn Rooney; Court Administrator Harry Spence, CSC Manager Sandra Delgado, Trial Court Chief Justice Paula Carey, Essex Probate and Family Court - Lawrence First Justice Jennifer Rivera Ulwick, Essex County Register of Probate Pamela Casey O'Brien, and Sr. Director of Support Services Sheriece Perry. The Lawrence CSC has helped more than 14,500 people since it first opened inSeptember 2015. "This Center represents the type of teamwork that makes the CSC model so successful throughout the Commonwealth," said Chief Justice Carey, who noted that while the majority of CSC visits statewide are related to the Probate and Family Court, over 20 percent of those visiting the Lawrence CSC come for help with District Court matters. "The Court Service Center takes away the mystery of what's going to happen in the courtroom, alleviating the anxiety of many self- represented litigants and helping court sessions run more smoothly," she said. A Bench Fit for the SJC Visit to Lawrence... Shown at left (from left): SJC Court Officer Leandro Rodriguez, Justice David Lowy, Chief Court Officer Gregory Meehan, Justice Geraldine Hines, Justice Margot Botsford, Chief Justice Ralph Gants, Justice Barbara Lenk, Justice Frank Gaziano, Justice Kimberly Budd, and SJC Chief Court Officer Robert Vitale. On right, Facilities team members on hand included (from left): Building Supervisor Steve Zalewski with Custodians Fabio Dos Santos, Juan Carrasco, Frank McAskill, Nelson Santos, and Edward Skomurski. Special visitors. The Supreme Judicial Court heard four cases earlier this month at a special sitting at the Fenton Judicial Center. In order to properly host the visiting justices, members of the Facilities team in Lawrence custom-built a 28-foot long bench, shown in the photo at left above, to comfortably fit all seven justices. Building Supervisor Steve Zalewski supervised the build and Custodian Nelson Santos designed and served as lead craftsman for the project. The hand-crafted bench of birch plywood can be taken apart and brought to other courthouses for future visits from the SJC. Taunton Drug Court Opens The Taunton Drug Court opened last month, making it the 26th adult drug court in the Commonwealth. Shown here are team members from left, (seated): Probation Officers Jennifer Anderson and Kosean Kokeh. From left (standing): Asst. District Attorney Megan Burns, Taunton Police Officer John Munise, Defense Attorney Lisa Luongo, Taunton District Court Judge Neil Hourihan, Community Counseling of Bristol County's Ellen Bruder-Moore Abramowitz, Presiding Taunton Drug Court Judge Edmund "Chuck" Mathers, Chief Probation Officer Kelly Hamilton-Welzel, Chief Court Officer Maryann Dodero, Drug Court Coordinator Marie Burke, Asst. Chief Probation Officer Candace Vardaxis, Court Clinician Cynthia Kaplan-Bliss, Asst. Chief Probation Officer Craig O'Leary, and Office of Community Corrections Program Manager Scott Gomes. Not shown are First Justice Kevan Cunningham, and Clerk-Magistrate Claudia Abreau. Sneak Peek at new Essex Probate and Family Courthouse... Almost there. From left, Essex County Register of Probate Pamela Casey O'Brien and Trial Court Chief Justice Paula Carey recently toured the new Essex County Probate and Family courthouse with Project Administrator Louise Outler of Court Capital Projects. The 77,000 square foot space includes renovation of the historic 1909 building, plus demolition and replacement of the 1979 addition. The courthouse is next to the new Ruane Judicial Center. Court staff will move into the new space in early 2017. Send us your news... We really want to hear from you. Tell us about your upcoming events or solutions your courthouse has developed... Send us your news and photos you'd like to share with your Trial Court colleagues across the state... Law Day, BMC East Boston. Keep in touch: [email protected]. Did you miss an issue? Looking for an article? We've created an indexed list of Bulletins lets you find what you're looking for online, fast: http://www.mass.gov/courts/news-pubs/tc/. Read your monthly Bulletin... If you're having issues reading the Court Bulletin or have issues with your email in general, please call or email the JISD Help Desk at 617-878-0245 or [email protected]. You can also try this quick solution>> Coming up in January: Courtyard intranet update, Community Justice Workshops, free conciliation training, Bureau of Justice Assistance grant kickoff in Brockton. .