If you got married recently and used Riverhead Town HAll PLEASE READ!!!
I Do, I Do ... Oops!
Dozens of couples' marriages not recorded due to glitch
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Jack and Monica Jones (Newsday Photo / John Paraskevas)
Sep 25, 2002
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By Indrani Sen
Staff Writer
September 26, 2002
It was the second time for each of them, but Monica and Jack Jones of Shirley still wanted their wedding perfect. Amid lilies and roses, the bride wore a veil and tiara and the guests sang karaoke. Their children made up the wedding party, with her son in a wheelchair as the ring bearer, and her oldest boy walking her down the aisle.
They had waited long enough. After eight years, Monica's divorce came through just days before the July 27 wedding. On the 26th, they filled out a marriage license at Riverhead Town Hall.
But last Friday, the couple found that their bureaucratic journey is not yet over. A registered letter from Riverhead told them that, because of a computer glitch, their marriage wasn't recorded with the necessary state agency. If they didn't sign a new marriage license and have their witnesses and officiant do the same within 10 days, the letter said, 'your marriage will not be recorded with New York State, and you will not be legally married.'
'This was like a kick in the face,' Monica Jones said. 'We were so happy. ... And then to have this happen. It was unreal.'
About 50 to 60 couples married between the middle of July and the beginning of September got the same letter, said Riverhead Town Clerk Barbara Grattan, who signed it. Despite what it said, the marriages are valid, she said. But they're not on record in Albany.
A consultant hired by the town to create a computer program to record births, deaths and marriages numbered the questions on the marriage license incorrectly, Grattan said, and when she sent a month and a half's worth of marriage licenses to the New York State Vital Records department, they were rejected.
A spokesman for the State Health Department, which oversees vital records, said officials had never seen so many marriage licenses returned at once. 'There may be isolated instances where they have to be sent back, but nothing to this extent,' said John Signor. 'Generally what happens is before any locality uses a form, they would first send it to the state for review. In this case, unfortunately, that was not done.' In some cases, the state can make small corrections, Signor said. 'But in this instance there were multiple areas that were needed that were not included in the form. We had no option but to return it to the town and have them resubmit it.'
The consultant who created the incorrect form, Bill Todoro of WFT Data Service in East Moriches, said he just did what he was told by Grattan. 'I write the software according to what they tell me to do. I give it to them, if the client approves it, fine; if there's a problem, I fix it,' he said. 'I just don't know the legal parts of it.' As for why the form wasn't sent to the state for review, Todoro said, 'Obviously, that's not my responsibility.'Gratton did not return calls for comment on that subject. Todoro said he has worked for the town for 10 or 11 years and still does.
Grattan said she will be flexible regarding the 10-day deadline for filing new forms. But that's not enough for Jones, who now must collect signatures from her two oldest children, who witnessed the marriage and are now back at college in Virginia. 'It's just a very big inconvenience,' she said. 'I still don't see why I should have to go through all the hoops for this, when I did it all right the first time.'
Jones said she and the man she hopes is her husband are trying to stay calm. 'But if I was 20 years old and it was my first marriage, I'd probably be in tears over this.'
Dozens of couples' marriages not recorded due to glitch
Email this story
Printer friendly format
Photos
Jack and Monica Jones (Newsday Photo / John Paraskevas)
Sep 25, 2002
Top Stories
Killer's About-Face
Roundabout Traffic Solution
I Do, I Do ... Oops!
Cop's Slaps Help Struggling Infant
District to Skip Regents
By Indrani Sen
Staff Writer
September 26, 2002
It was the second time for each of them, but Monica and Jack Jones of Shirley still wanted their wedding perfect. Amid lilies and roses, the bride wore a veil and tiara and the guests sang karaoke. Their children made up the wedding party, with her son in a wheelchair as the ring bearer, and her oldest boy walking her down the aisle.
They had waited long enough. After eight years, Monica's divorce came through just days before the July 27 wedding. On the 26th, they filled out a marriage license at Riverhead Town Hall.
But last Friday, the couple found that their bureaucratic journey is not yet over. A registered letter from Riverhead told them that, because of a computer glitch, their marriage wasn't recorded with the necessary state agency. If they didn't sign a new marriage license and have their witnesses and officiant do the same within 10 days, the letter said, 'your marriage will not be recorded with New York State, and you will not be legally married.'
'This was like a kick in the face,' Monica Jones said. 'We were so happy. ... And then to have this happen. It was unreal.'
About 50 to 60 couples married between the middle of July and the beginning of September got the same letter, said Riverhead Town Clerk Barbara Grattan, who signed it. Despite what it said, the marriages are valid, she said. But they're not on record in Albany.
A consultant hired by the town to create a computer program to record births, deaths and marriages numbered the questions on the marriage license incorrectly, Grattan said, and when she sent a month and a half's worth of marriage licenses to the New York State Vital Records department, they were rejected.
A spokesman for the State Health Department, which oversees vital records, said officials had never seen so many marriage licenses returned at once. 'There may be isolated instances where they have to be sent back, but nothing to this extent,' said John Signor. 'Generally what happens is before any locality uses a form, they would first send it to the state for review. In this case, unfortunately, that was not done.' In some cases, the state can make small corrections, Signor said. 'But in this instance there were multiple areas that were needed that were not included in the form. We had no option but to return it to the town and have them resubmit it.'
The consultant who created the incorrect form, Bill Todoro of WFT Data Service in East Moriches, said he just did what he was told by Grattan. 'I write the software according to what they tell me to do. I give it to them, if the client approves it, fine; if there's a problem, I fix it,' he said. 'I just don't know the legal parts of it.' As for why the form wasn't sent to the state for review, Todoro said, 'Obviously, that's not my responsibility.'Gratton did not return calls for comment on that subject. Todoro said he has worked for the town for 10 or 11 years and still does.
Grattan said she will be flexible regarding the 10-day deadline for filing new forms. But that's not enough for Jones, who now must collect signatures from her two oldest children, who witnessed the marriage and are now back at college in Virginia. 'It's just a very big inconvenience,' she said. 'I still don't see why I should have to go through all the hoops for this, when I did it all right the first time.'
Jones said she and the man she hopes is her husband are trying to stay calm. 'But if I was 20 years old and it was my first marriage, I'd probably be in tears over this.'
