Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Held at Malden Constables Office

With business steady since opening their doors to clients over the summer, Malden's newest constables office had their grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Gary Christenson on Monday afternoon.

More than a dozen people attended the ceremony at Snider & D'Amato Constables, located at the former Patriot Skateboards site at 804 Main St. It was outside that location that 39-year-old Shawn Clark, the former skate shop's owner, was shot and killed on Jan. 29, and police continue to search for two men caught on surveillance video.

The constables office opened in the third week of July, according to Mark Snider, co-owner of the business. He runs the office with fellow constable and co-owner Stephen D'Amato.

"People are really taking to it. Everybody seems to want to come in with their questions regarding landlord-tenant issues, and obviously we aren't attorneys, but there are some basic things we can help them with like filling out a summons," Snider, a former Melrosian who now lives in Woburn, said. "The court dates can be kind of tricky because the court basically hands them a blank summons and says you need to get this served and all the dates are blank so people can come down here, we can pull out the calendar and go over it with them and give them an idea of when they will be in court."

D'Amato, a former Malden resident who currently lives in Winthrop, discussed how their operation is different than the way traditional constable offices have done business in the past.

"Essentially what we've done is we've eliminated the years long of people faxing their papers into the abyss for constables who operate remotely," D'Amato said. "People can actually come in here and see who they are dealing with and feel comfortable about having someone helping them and it's really working out well."

The office specializes in dealing with a variety of non-criminal matters, including landlord-tenant disputes, probate and family court and civil lawsuits, according to D'Amato.

"Anything out of the civil court system we handle...We serve the civil court system," D'Amato said, adding that they also issue and serve subpoenas.

Each constable brings roughly 10 years of experience to the table, with Snider previously having run his own home-based constable business in Melrose for several years and D'Amato formerly the lead deputy sheriff for a civil process division.

The constables invested upward of $10,000 into the business, according to Christenson. D'Amato noted that the landlord helped install new carpeting, and they have painted the walls and ceilings and added a window design.

Having "more space than we knew what to do with," D'Amato said, the plan moving forward is to offer a space for instructional courses.

"We've built a classroom in back that we are looking to rent to any independent instructors of CPR, a firearms basic safety course or anything of that nature," D'Amato said, adding that there are three tables, a screen and space for about 20 people.

Whether it's doing business at the office or visiting a client in Malden, the constables will make themselves available to the community.

"After hours all calls are forwarded to our cell phones, and we make ourselves available weekends and holidays," D'Amato said. "We understand how frustrating it is when you have a legal issue and you need answers to your process and how to get stuff served and we'll take those calls."

For more information, call Snider & D'Amato Constables at 781-321-3202 (office) during regular business hours, or 617-938-0133 (cell) for after hours calls. You can visit their website or email info@SniderDamatoConstables.com.

Check out a video from the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Snider & D'Amato Constables.