A letter to all in the Judicial Branch:

As you all know by now I am retiring from state service on January 2. I want to thank each and every one of you for the wonderful working relationships I have had with you over the past 17+ years. I want to thank you for the experiences we have shared and for the many, many friendships I have enjoyed during my time here at the AOC. I cannot imagine a better working environment or a better group of individuals to have worked for than all of you in the judicial branch; judges, masters and staff alike. I will miss you all dearly.

I have watched you strengthen that environment every day through your shared respect for and conduct toward each other. That has made being a part of the court system truly a pleasure for me. It is the reason that the judicial branch is such a special place to work. The respect that you have for one another is reflected out to the individuals that come before the court to resolve their disputes. Their court experience is so much better because of who you are and how you go about the business of the court. Judges and masters behind the bench and staff in the courtroom and in the offices all approach the business of the court with the greatest respect for each individual. That makes the court experience what it is. Don't ever lose that. It takes hard work and constant attention on your part. But the rewards are immense.

Together we have enjoyed a number of successes. In the age of Odyssey, it is difficult to think of SUSTAIN as having been viewed as a success. But back when it first went in it really was a step up. We have had our share of disappointments. Fortunately there have not been that many and I ask that you forgive me for not highlighting any here. We certainly envisioned many technological possibilities that have not been achieved. Oh, those so many things we could have done if only money grew on trees.

Let me bore you with some history. I started my career in data processing (that is what Information Technology was called back in the stone ages) in 1969 and have worked in that field my entire career. I have watched and been involved as technology moved from punched paper tape (really I did), to IBM punched cards, to when a million characters (bytes for you techies out there) of memory for a mainframe computer cost $1M, to today's handheld devices sporting billions of characters of memory at costs that pre-teens can afford on their allowances. Can anyone imagine where this all will be in another 40 years? 80 years? The possibilities are boundless. I envy those starting out in the IT field now because of what they will be experiencing.

Looking forward, I can leave knowing that you are in good hands. The IT team here at the AOC is fully capable of taking the courts deep into the 21st century. And Peter Croteau, your new Chief Technology Officer, is ready and able to guide the IT team and the courts into the future. What a wonderful time it will be.

For myself, I plan to stay active somewhere and somehow in the Information Technology field but I expect that I will no longer be a part of the judicial branch team. I will miss you greatly. I will be checking in from time to time, both here at the AOC and in the courts, to see how you all are doing and what you all are up to. Who knows, we may even cross paths in the future, hopefully with neither of us standing on the business side of the bench.

For all that, I thank you.