ALBANY - The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has determined that Arthur Miclette, a Justice of the Crown Point Town Court in Essex County, should be censured.

In a determination dated July 1, 2009, and released to the public on July 13, the Commission found that Judge Miclette should be sanctioned for failing to make timely deposits and for not remitting funds to the State Comptroller in a timely manner.

The judge, who is not an attorney and who is the owner of a car repair business in Crown Point, also filed a small claims action in his own court, presided over the case and failed to transfer it to another court.

The Commission said that as a result of Judge Miclette’s “inadequate” supervision of his part-time clerk, court funds were deposited “sporadically” in 2006 and 2007, resulting in a $350 cumulative deficiency. Also, for two months, no remittances were made to the State Comptroller.

“Although there is no indication that any money was misappropriated, public confidence in the courts is jeopardized when monies are not scrupulously handled as required by law,” the Commission stated. It noted that since a new clerk was retained, “it appears that these administrative tasks are now being properly performed.”

Judge Miclette also filed a small claim in his own court for $600 against a customer of his car repair business. When the defendant appeared before the judge in August 2007, the judge told the defendant that he could not hear the matter in his own court, but said that if the debt was not satisfied he would transfer the matter to another court. The Commission said that Judge Miclette – who has no co-judge – should have immediately transferred the case to another jurisdiction and that by not doing so the judge “in effect…engaged in settlement discussions in his own court, from the bench, in a case in which he was a party.”