good evening and welcome i'm diane meyer hot toast for tonight's candidate form for the democratic primary for chicken county probate judge tonight show is being aired live on channel seventeen and streamed live on the channel seventeen website we welcome your comments and questions please call us at eight six to three nine six six candidates joining me tonight are gregory gregg glen in the incumbent and william bill norful thank you both so much yes thank you thank you for having us the ground rules for tonight's form the candidates when the opening statements to two minutes each and you answer prepared questions also for two minutes with a possible one minute bottle for opening statements we're going to start with greg and then followed by bill on tell us why you're running what qualifies you for the position and your priorities for the four year term ok well thank you diane thank you everyone at channel seventeen for hosting this form my name is gregory jay going in i have been the probate judge for county since july of two thousand and sixteen exactly almost exactly two years now wife when i sought this position for the first time in two thousand and sixteen i really you know thought long and hard about whether or not this was a job for me and whether or not this was a job i could make a difference in and make an impact i i got involved in public service years ago because i wanted to help people and make a difference and when i thought about it when i thought about my skill set my experience and you know how i look at wife and career i thought this this job of probate judge really is almost a perfect fit for what i want to achieve and what i want to do i don't mean professionally but in terms of how i can make an impact in the community and as the person i am and what i mean by that is that this give a practical example at the probate court we deal with people in very sensitive family oriented situations we deal with families that are mourning the loss of a loved one that have to come to the court to open a state we deal with families going through very difficult situations with a elderly parents through guardianship we see vulnerable adults who have slipped into all simers dementia suffered a traumatic brain injury or have gone through a stroke these these are the sorts of situations that often present themselves for an adult guardianship case and of course we see kids forever now in the past years i've been on numerous boards and committees councils i've served four terms as marilyn askey i was fourteen was elected mayor it was actually from ninety one to ninety nine people asked me if that was my dad but no it wasn't my dad it was me i enjoyed immensely but my experience not just the twenty years as a trial attorney but my experience as mer and being a tr attorney is that we're helping people we're like the guy with the lantern leading people through a labyrinth when you're going to city hall and you have a problem it's a labyrinth what's different between design reviews owning or planning when you go to court it's a labyrinth in the probate court particularly as well as any court most people who are and court are there because they have a problem and in probate court it's a deal with extremely vulnerable people sensitive every one of us if we have a position of authority we derive that authority from the people if you go somewhere you should not feel intimidated should not be scared we can assist we can help and almost as importantly before you wouldn't do that make them feel comfortable give them the information they need to help them through the maze that's what conduct my professional service it's why i've had an active trial practice and want to ski it's what i would questions you both actually mentioned issues of guardianship specifically and i think that's one i'd certainly like to hear more about talking about the challenging aspects of handling these kind of cases if adults and children are different if it's very similar in terms of how you handle that  because it seems to be such an important part of of the work that that a probate judge does so we're going to start with bill this time ok the guardianship specifically program court guardianship many times come into play somebody may have a parent it's almost a role reversal when you're point a guardian and quite often if it's a child or one of the children it's the child becomes the parent there are many sensitive areas in  life which we're all coming up to where we may become infirm we may become at as a physiological or an emotional or an intellectual state where we may need assistance part of that of course and one of the probate courts role is that assistance is not just well meaning but is is is monitored to make sure that you to suboptimal dulce who get the calls and and send their money to bail out of the nephew that they get the prank calls they get the they buy the medical alert sin they buy the extended warranties and there's a lot of reasons it may get to our lives where somebody should be watching your finances say you've worked your entire life or that you've saved for so it's a very you're dealing with vulnerable people you must be extremely empathetic because we're all going there we're all going there we will all be there and the probate court monitors guardianship it keeps track you do annual counting does a background i was a guardian i've been a actual guardian many times when i was in law school it says the probate court because they wanted somebody who could do that for somebody but who at that time necessarily could not afford a lawyer so i've been involved in not hundreds but thousands of juvenile cases a hundreds of cases that would lead up to and including adoption they're very emotional you always remember that always remember the time that that person when they come in when they may you what they're going through try to be again this question ties into what i was about the say as i was finishing finishing up my opening remarks this case load all the cases that probate for guardianships probably a very unique way i require the probate judge to look out for the most vulnerable among us three key things i want to share with people in my two years as probate judge i've seen financial minor guardianships big issues  concerns around the handling of a child's money until the child turns eighteen money that's either inherited or received in an injury settlement for example making sure that the  funds are held to account and that if funds go missing there's accountability custodial guardianships for children probably the most important thing i do as probate judge is the cases involving child custody and when it comes to child custody cases minor guardianships if i have any questions or any concerns about the safety of a child in a home that child may be in or suggested to go into in a guardianship setting is to make sure involve d c i don't have as probate judge resources at my disposal to conduct a third party review of these residential settings so i've made it a point to dot the i's cross the t s and put safety of kids first that is the most important thing i can do in my job as probate judge and believe me i go to bed at night worrying about these cases and warning about these kids for adult guardianships as as the judge of the see about two thousand new filings each year in addition to that we see about at least a thousand filings on cases that stay under court supervision those are called are supervision cases typically minor in adult guardianship t court has to supervise those cases so we're not only a court but like a monitoring agency and there's just a flood of filings it's the bureaucratic equivalent i tell people of standing in front of a fire hose so  every single day i work hand in hand with the staff at our registers office i have taken on administrative duties i mean we have a tremendous staff but they're they're overworked and they need help and we all work together as a team we have to tremendous registers a probate we have a tremendous docket clerk these ladies deborah now carmen cody nancy being these are just delightful people tremendous state employees tremendous public servants and we work together as a team to process these cases and if you talk to anybody who interacts with the court either as a member of the public or as a member of the bar we turn case filings around extremely quickly i've had so many people tell me that the chit in probate court is the most efficiently run court in the state of vermont believe me i think that is a real complement if we can get people what they need from the probate court quickly than we're doing the job we need to be doing because people for example if you're probating the estate of a loved one you don't want to wait around for court papers you want to get the estate administered you want to close that chapter of the grieving process and you want to move on if you need to get a child enroll in  school because you need guardianship papers you can't wait around the school districts not going to say well i'm glad you're in court they're going to see the court order so we get people the credentials they need from the court to do the business they need to do with the banks at the school districts at the do doctor's offices to get these different areas of probate cases you know managed through the work the guardians or the court appointed fiduciary is in the estates have to do in the community  the have an excellent staff i didn't know some of these folks for twenty years and they're one of the better the staff is one of the better you can usually get on the phone they have a quicker answer and again it's less of a mazed for the probate court because it's just the probate court you're going to call a superior court with with several different divisions there's probably fifteen hundred two thousand new cases a year probably a thousand in need administering an ongoing basis guardianship said don't terminate testing terry trust and such that's roughly about fifty cases a week on a work week that needs your attention that's probably ten a day  that's manageable if you are willing to work hard and frankly it be less work than i'm doing now it's not uncommon for me to deal with ten at least ten matters a day  so the the the the answer to that is anybody of course and i'm sure gregory works very hard anyone in that position needs to be prepared to roll their sleeves up get the work done because you're in a position  as as was noted knife fully agree people don't want to wait for a temporary guardianship when mom does when a nursing home or dad has an issue or there's just one parent so  expediency it's extremely important probably more so than any other court court cases aren't long drawn out lawsuits where you have time to respond and you've got to be quick you've got to be quick you've got to be very responsive and i think that for all my extensive spirit experience for the probate court is the staff has done that for all these yours i've been very pleased and it's always been it's never been not a pleasure for for the short answer is under the ethical rules that govern campaigns for judicial officers a candidate for git for judicial office in the state of vermont cannot ask for publicly stated support so the answer to that question is you know there is something called a campaign committee for judges that can conduct campaign activities on behalf of the judicial candidate that can you know gather solicit contributions that kind of thing but the judge is not allowed to engage in those activities personally or the candidate for judge for that matter as well so there's this  i don't have a campaign committee funded my campaign because i just think it's inappropriate to have somebody in my campaign put committee in when you're running for judge all your friends are lawyers so you get another lawyer friend of yours bracing somebody hey you got to give nor l didn't do that i will not do that i don't think it's appropriate to ask people or have fundraisers for going for a judge call me victorian but i don't think that's appropriate i haven't done that i won't do that the i think it's absolutely and proper to look for or have a member of your committee call people particularly if someone's been there it's just had a hearing they have cases in front of you  glenn and numerous people on his committee lists have active ongoing probate cases what are they going to say when they get a call saying how my doing or how is gregory doing what are they going to do or would you like to donate i like to respond  have been naive but well that's my opinion on the matter well that's a really outrageous statement for an attorney to make against a sitting judge if you like three again it's three lawyers you're all it's outrageous and i have to say that the vermont supreme court has said it's totally fine and totally proper for a campaign committee to solicit contributions so a bill is basically saying is that the vermont supreme court is wrong it's not unethical i think it's outrageous that a member of the bar would come on a public program that's televised and impugn an order of the vermont supreme court and a judicial officer who's following to the letter that administrative order i think i call him support are you going to tell brian herr you don't call him for support after the appear in your court that is absolutely true well it's an s l thing and that a probate judge the probate judge is allowed to form a campaign committee it says it right in the ethical rule it also says the probate judge if anyone at a certain point in time makes a contribution to that campaign committee the probate judge would have an obligation to make a disclosure on the record i have not asked for a dime from anybody i have not asked for publicly stated support from anybody the campaign committee that has formed has followed the ethical rules to the letter i think it's disgraceful that a member of the bar would attack a sitting judge and would take an administrative order of the supreme court and say that that order of the from on supreme court is wrong and unethical and it's it's really it's really unfortunate  role and it says the probate judge can direct parties to mediation in certain inappropriate settings the reality is in probate court we don't have that many hotly contested disputed cases that give rise to a need for the judge to say want to try and go mediate outside a court that's not the nature of the cases we typically see a few times in minor in minor custodial guardianships where there's just been repetitive court filings and inability of parties to sort of find a way  forward i have issue to mediation or the problem with that is there's no funding for that order and a lot of the people we see don't have the resources to pay for a private mediator and there's no for there's no funding for the court administrator office to pay and a neutral mediator to come in to facilitate the mediation so it's really it's not the role does it work all that well practically speaking but it's there and there are certain cases where i have used it and if if it's appropriate certainly will direct parties to of mediation as a to hash things out to save the court time more importantly to save the people money and might not want to ventilate a certain issue mediator is a neutral third party but again with probate court work generally there's not mediation if you need a guardian there are of course assigned professionals who do the interview and make sure that it's appropriate that the person needs a guardian certainly for adoption it's way past the mediation stage when you wish to adopt but if appropriate in fact if family court encourages sometimes orders that mediation occur prior to filing a dispute before the court so i support mediation and were appropriate would strongly encourage it ok thank you both i'm tell us the most recent professional education you have pursued somewhat related to this work i'm and bill you will go first ok thank you the ongoing practice of law is probably a name that just for that it's a practice you learn a little something every day the most recent professional i will many years ago i took constitutional law for four years at brunton college false been interested in law that's why i became an attorney most recently i did the twenty hours of continuingly legal education over a three day seminar as regards to  many of the matters today it's actually a requirement and just finished at the end of june so that's my last continuing alleged education and we keep up on things greg continuing education sure so i've attended the vermont judicial college each of the last two years that's an intensive three day gathering in a conference center all the states judges of four divisions of the spirit court gather go through professional development exercises presentations the probate judges association of all the probate judges each of the counties in vermont also had a gathering last november which was a very useful and productive exercise which was more probate focused and one ratchet ishall college is also nice because we break out in a presentation from a retired judge named walter morris that we all attended as probate judges that really stuck with me how to interact with pro se litigants about ninety percent of the people we see in probate court don't have a lawyer that's what a pro se litigant is and that that presentation by judge morse was just tremendous i member telling him after the effort he spoke to us that was probably the most useful professional development exercise i've ever ever engaged it was really some i took away from the most recent judicial college this past june so the court administrator's office is very good about providing professional development opportunities the judges in the probate judge association is a very cohesive network and we also  keep up to speed on professional development and what's also good about the probate judges association statewide is we share information about you know developments in cases that get decided in share information to understand you know your i your closing statements and for about two minutes and then we'll wrap up and let folks know about voting so greg you are of course you're our oh my name is gregory j glenn and i'm the incumbent probate judge for shit in county i've been serving as probate judge for the last two years i live in burlington with my wife and a donovan who's a registered nurse and our two kids need who's just turned ten my daughter and my son james are j p who's eight our kids are attending the burlington public schools we love this city we love this community and it's the honor of my lifetime to serve chicken county chicken chicken county as probate judge the probate court touches the lives of a lot of people in a very sensitive circumstances each and every day for the last two years i've earned asli tried to treat everybody who walks with the doors of the probate court with dignity respect and fairness for me this is the most important obligation of the position of probate judge on august fourteenth i'm asking for your vote in the democratic primary so that i may continue to serve as your probate judge for a new four year term i pledge to you that i will continue each and every day to make it my first obligation to look out and be a voice for those who are the most vulnerable among us in our community as your probate judge i thank you for your consideration and i want to say a special thank you since i have this opportunity and i've already mentioned them to the register's office staff at the probate court it is just such an honor to work with those ladies and they're on the front lines of providing real human services to people in need and to stand shoulder to shoulder with them these past two years has been just such a privilege and i love serving as a probate judge and i'm working as hard as i can to earn a new term and to show people how important this job is to the community and how seriously i take it or thank diane again for hosting this form and again i respectfully asking for said earlier the sound like my opening speech but my life has been dedicated to helping where we grow up my brother rest a soul once said that you know our life is just footprints in the sand so all the more route that you know that wash away i'm all the more reason to leave good footprints so in caring that ideology i want to leave good footprints cipher again my dedicated years of public service in helping our neighborhoods helping our communities helping our government years of commission and being on committees and commissions and councils and again as mayor always made people always full strive and would do this as the judge  probate court when you walk in the courtroom it's it's your health every one of us here derives or authority or responsibility from the people and i've never i've also been a student of history  a student of democracy i know of no better system and i would appreciate allowing me to to continue that service by voting for me as the candidate for august primary day early voting has started early voting at your town hall you municipal hall city hall and you can vote right now up through i believe the fourteenth tuesday is tuesday the fourteenth is primary day if you prefer to go to the polls which is always fun right everyone so you're going to the polls you're able to get off of work and show up that day or vote after work for work we would encourage you to do that and i want to thank both bill and greg for joining me tonight and stay tuned for more primary day coverage here on channel seventeen