MONTICELLO - E. Danielle Jose-Decker, Esq. is all about serving the community. And now that she is elected as Sullivan County Court Judge and Surrogate she hopes to do just that.

“I've always felt as though it was important to serve your community and help others, and I thought that being a judge is another way that I could do that,” Jose-Decker remarked. “I like the idea of being able to help others and respecting their rights and respecting them as people, and I think that's what I'm all about.”

She ran uncontested to fill the seat left vacant by Judge Michael McGuire, whose term would have ended in December, but left the bench early to become Sullivan County Attorney. Jose-Decker will serve the full ten-year term.

With a long career in legal service, she has her own practice, Ricciani and Jose, in Monticello. She will have to leave private practice when she becomes Judge.

Growing up in Mechanicville, NY she came to Sullivan County in 2000 to work for the District Attorney's office, where she worked with DA Steve Lungen for a few years.

She then worked at Greenwald Law Offices in Chester before starting her own firm with her partner, Jacqueline Ricciani.

While in Orange County, one of the major components of the firm's work was doing municipal representation, and she became the Village Attorney for the Village of Monticello.

It was there where she met her husband, Clarence “Brud” Decker who was the water superintendent, and they now live in the Town of Thompson.

Among a list of accomplishments, she is also town attorney for the towns of Lumberland, Forestburgh and Tusten and for the Village of Wurtsboro. She will also have to leave these positions, as you can't have other employment when you are appointed to a superior court.

She is also a member and past president of the Sullivan County Bar Association. Serving as president during the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging, she said, and she was focused on keeping the members of the bar informed.

When she is sworn in as judge in January she says one of her goals is to make sure that both the victims' and defendants' rights are protected, and hopes to help strengthen resources available to families.

She will need to go through some training, as all new judges go to judge school, which will now be online because of the pandemic.

She is proud to be the first female judge in Sullivan County history.

“It puts me in a position where hopefully it inspires young women to reach for their dreams, this is the first time we're having a female in one of these courts of record positions, so I think that's something that women and young girls need to see as they move up,” she said.

Community is really important to Jose-Decker, and she is a member of the Monticello Rotary Club and the Elks Lodge, as well as a volunteer for the Inter-Faith Council.

“I think it's really necessary to serve something bigger than yourself,” she said. “Community is all about connections and helping people, and that's how I was brought up, we were always involved.”