Batavia City Council members tonight voted in favor of appointing attorney Thomas A. Burns as the municipality’s part-time City Court judge and the lifelong Batavian said he couldn’t be more pleased.
“I’m very, very happy. And it’s kind of ironic that I was admitted to practice law 32 years ago this date, and in about 15 days, I turn 60, and I’ve been in this town my whole life and I love this community,” Burns said by telephone following Council’s Conference and Business meetings at the City Centre Council Board Room. “I’m just elated that Council has the confidence in me to do a good job.”
Burns will assume the role that became vacant with the death of David Saleh on Oct. 29. His term begins on Jan. 1 and runs for six years.
Burns, as he mentioned, was admitted to practice law in New York State on Dec. 14, 1988, after receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University at Buffalo and his Juris Doctor from Buffalo State University.
He has been practicing criminal defense and litigating civil matters from his Batavia offices since then. He and his wife, Kelly Donohue Burns, an attorney with the Genesee County Public Defender’s office, have a grown daughter, Elizabeth, who works in the commercial field in Boston.
Burns said it is his responsibility to make sure he is accessible when called upon to wear the robe.
“It’s the obligation of a person assuming a judicial position not to get involved in too many cases that are going to involve conflicts,” he said. “You have to be available for not only the time of the court, but the last thing in the world that you want is your conflict providing judge (cases where Rogers recuses himself) to have a boatload of conflicts.”
City Council President Eugene Jankowski said the board interviewed applicants and decided to move forward with Burns.
“Personally, I voted for Mr. Burns because I believe that at this point, he is the best applicant to serve our community and the people of Batavia,” he said. “Hopefully, that will continue on and he will do a great job.”
Council Member Robert Bialkowski said he had nothing against Burns on a personal level, but voted against the appointment due to previous friction between City Court Judge Durin Rogers and Burns.
“I know that in the past he has had a conflict with Judge Rogers,” Bialkowski said following the meeting. “He’s filed complaints with the judicial district against the judge, so I see there would be an animosity. And the other thing, today with there being so many court cases handled by the public defenders -- what happens? – somebody has to recuse themself.”
Bialkowski said he was thinking about “the smoothness of the court” in casting the “no” vote.
“Judge Rogers was the elected judge and he’s full time, so the part-time judge would have to work for the full-time judge. I just see a lot of conflict that’s all,” he said. “I know that Mr. Burns is an excellent attorney and I’ve heard a lot of good things about him, but I don’t like to see people put in a position of conflict.”
Bialkowski also noted mentioned that he could foresee Burns having to recuse himself in cases involving his wife in her role with the Public Defender’s office.
When he brought that point up during the meeting, Jankowski replied that there is a "similar situation right now (as Rogers' wife, Paula, also is an attorney in Genesee County) and it's working just fine."
Burns, when informed of Bialkowski’s comments, expressed a measure of surprise.
“Let me say this. We’re all grown people and lawyers are litigators and advocates for their perspective positions and I understand my function – my function is a part-time judge,” he said. “I am not the elected judge. I am there to adhere what the Office of Court Administration expects of me to be fair and impartial and to support the full-time judge and providing coverage of the court – dealing with conflict issues that the judge might have. And if he steers it my way, it’s my obligation to take care of those cases.”
Burns said it was “unfortunate” that Bialkowski feels that way, but “there certainly is no conflict from my perspective.”
In other action, Council passed the following resolutions:
- Contracts with Empire Access for $3,500 to connect city facilities with fiber internet and $8,400 annually for a five-year service agreement;
- Granting of access to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to perform environmental cleanup work at 267 Bank St., a small parcel of the Dwyer Stadium property;
- $114,720 contract with Architectural Resources of Buffalo for engineering services in connection with the Jackson Square renovation project, one of the city’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative awards;
- Appointments of Ryan Duffy and Connie Boyd to three-year terms as members of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.
