The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct on Tuesday recommended that a town judge in North Country—Elizabethtown Town Court Justice Richard F. Olcott—be censured for involving himself in the disposition of his son's traffic ticket last year.

The commission said Olcott, who is not an attorney and has been on the bench since 2020, compounded his misconduct by failing to mechanically record any of the vehicle and traffic proceedings in his court.

Presiding over a matter involving a relative within the sixth degree of relation to the judge is prohibited under a section of the Judiciary Law. At the same time, the law also provides that every town and village justice must mechanically record all proceedings in the court.