Judge states technology, less tasks forced termination

Longtime Ironton Municipal Court clerk Elaine Kleinman was let go from her job Friday, Sept. 1 after more than 23 years working at the court.

Kleinman served as the traffic clerk, and said she feels the move Ironton Municipal Court Judge O. Clark Collins Jr. made to terminate her was political and personal, stating that the day after her daughter put a political sign in her yard, she was called in to hear about her termination.

“My daughter put a sign in her yard on that Thursday and, the next day, he (Collins) called me in and said my job wasn’t needed anymore,” Kleinman said. “I’m the oldest of four clerks, and have seniority. I truly believe that my job is needed and that this was a political decision that was made.”

Collins, however, said that he had to get rid of Kleinman due to technology advances as well as that her tasks had been greatly diminished recently.

“Technology just eliminated the job. The Ohio State Highway Patrol went to electronic ticketing, so what she was doing went down to taking up about an hour a week,” Collins said.

“This was a tough decision, and I hated making it, but the job of putting tickets in was gone when the state patrol started sending them electronically.”

Kleinman added that she has never put a political sign in her yard, believing that working in the court has swayed her away from publically supporting candidates. However, after being let go, she said she ended up putting a sign up of a candidate running for the municipal judge’s seat.

Collins said the sign had nothing to do with her termination, and that political signs aren’t something he really cares about. He also added that another position of a female probation officer would be brought in, and that Kleinman would have been offered that job if she was certified.

“This had nothing to do with the sign, and this is not a political issue,” Collins said. “The position had to be eliminated because we don’t need a ticketing clerk since the patrol went to E-tickets. And I didn’t know her workload was reduced as drastically as it has been.”

Collins said the need for a female probation officer comes from the growing number of females on probation, and that the process of reviewing applications for a female probation officer has been going on before Kleinman was let go.

Collins said the female probation officer that will be hired will be certified to give drug tests, make arrests, conduct pat downs and more.

Collins’ seat is up Dec. 31 of this year, and the candidates running for Ironton Municipal Court judge on the November ballot include Ironton attorney Mark McCown and Ironton attorney and Ironton City Councilman Kevin Waldo.