Government-reform groups have urged that the clerk's office - with its 110 employees and $5 million annual budget - be abolished and its functions absorbed by the city and courts.
Mayor Nutter refused to take a stand on that yesterday during a news conference at which he and Miller announced her decision to quit.
"There will be a time to get into it in the future," he said.
Miller, 74, said nothing of substance about her 19 years as clerk during her resignation speech. She would not answer questions afterward.
"I go in peace, love, and harmony," she said.
It was a rare appearance by Miller, who typically has not attended public events, citing illness or family reasons.
Zack Stalberg, executive director of the Committee of Seventy, the nonpartisan watchdog group, said that he understood Nutter's desire to be "gracious" to Miller, but that the mayor should have stated his view on whether the office should be abolished - a call his organization repeated yesterday.
"The office is not performing effectively, and it is not cheap to run," Stalberg said. "I wish he had told the taxpayers how he intends to permanently deal with the mess."
Stalberg said that given the city's fiscal woes, an "immediate priority" should be going after the $1 billion in uncollected bail.
Nutter has blamed Miller's office for the problem. "Unfortunately, the clerk of quarter sessions is unable to provide records of debtors and the amounts that have been paid or unpaid," he wrote last fall.
Daniel Cantu-Hertzler, chair of the corporate and tax group within the City Solicitor's Office, said yesterday that the effort to collect the money remained stalled.
