Clerk of Quarter Sessions

Do you have any idea what the Clerk of Quarter Sessions does? Me neither, until fairly recently. Apparently the official purpose of this cesspool is to handle court records and to collect and invest bail money and fines in criminal cases. Hmmm. In a city with financial problems to the extent that Philadelphia has you would think that the handling of all of this money would be taken very seriously, right? Ahem. This is Philadelphia, remember. From the Philadelphia Inquirer's report:

Frustrated by a city agency's handling of tens of millions of dollars in court fees, the president judge of Common Pleas Court has ordered it to surrender its bank accounts and cede some key functions to another department beginning today.
Citing severe financial problems in the office of Clerk of Quarter Sessions Vivian T. Miller, President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe said the office must turn over its books to the probation department, which will take over fiscal operations.
Dembe said the office had botched its handling of key accounts, depriving the city of needed revenue at a time of fiscal crisis.
"I don't have time to be patient," said Dembe, who was elected president judge in November. "It's simply not acceptable, at a time when we're talking about closing libraries and rec centers, for the city not to have revenue to which it's due."
Miller said she was insulted by the order and would fight it.
"I take my job very seriously," said Miller, whose office handles court records and collects and invests bail money and fines in criminal cases. "To me, this is no joke. This is not no plaything."

Yes, this is not no plaything. Vivian T. Miller is very serious about her incompetence, and that of her daughter, Robin T. Jones, first deputy clerk of quarter sessions. (Because it would barely be a city job in Philadelphia if you didn’t bring family members to the trough as well).
"We don't want to give up what she's elected to do," Jones said.
Yes. Once you are collecting a salary for doing nothing, it is very hard to give up.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20090130_Phila__agency_s_money_handling_angers_judge.html?viewAll=Y&text=