Director of Westmoreland County row office under court order to make improvements
GREENSBURG, Pa. (KDKA) — The director of a Westmoreland County row office is under court order to make quick improvements to her office or face legal sanctions.
Quinn Cioffi is a legal abstractor in Westmoreland County. Her job is to get legal documents for her clients. She's very familiar with the office of the Westmoreland County Register of Wills and allegations the office is broken and needs fixing.
"It's frustrating because my clients need information, they're filing mortgages, doing property searches," Cioffi said.
Register of Wills Sherry Magretti Hamilton and her office were the focus of a hearing in front of Judge Harry Smail Jr. over the office's alleged inability to process documents for everything from real estate documents to how long her office is open.
"I was just in there looking, a woman passed away earlier this month and the documents haven't been scanned in yet," Cioffi said.
"I've done abstracting for 25-plus years of my life and never had this issue in this office until the last couple of years," Cioffi added.
Judge Smail and Judge Christopher Feliciani issued a court order instructing Hamilton that she has five days to complete orders, depositions and estate documents. The Register of Wills office also has five days to complete adoption records and must remain open during lunch hours.
KDKA-TV spoke off-camera to Hamilton about these accusations. She said she is working diligently to have any problems corrected, adding that she plans on hiring more people sometime shortly to help get the job done.