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Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren. PRESS FILE
The hiring of a new assistant for Mayor Jesse Warren drew queries from colleagues on the Southampton Village Board, queries that led the mayor to call for letting go of past conflicts.
During the board’s work session Tuesday night, October 20, the mayor put forth a candidate, Miranda Weber, who would serve for an annual salary of $50,000. Following some discussion, the board approved her hiring.
Ms. Weber will replace long-time assistant to the mayor Julie Fitzgerald, whom Mr. Warren fired in July. She served for five years in the position, working as assistant to previous mayors Mark Epley and Michael Irving, before Mr. Warren.
Board member Mark Parash said he’d connected with Ms. Weber, and had a nice conversation with her. He asked the mayor to tell the public about her and why he chose her.
“As you know, every mayor before me had an assistant and it would be nice to have an assistant,” the mayor said. “There’s a lot to do.”
He’s working 60 to 70 hours a week and wants to be able to expand the village website and be better able to communicate with residents and connect with them, he said.
“Having someone to help in that department would be exactly what we need,” he said.
Ms. Weber studied government and sociology at Colby College and, the mayor said, “has various work experience and internships.” She’ll be, the mayor said, “a good addition to our team and much needed help to me.” She has, he added, “good experience in technology and I think she’d help with that as well.”
Board member Joseph McLoughlin welcomed her and praised her as “a bright woman, and I hope that she will be able to assist us in our goals, and I think she will. ”
Board Member Andrew Pilaro had questions. “I’ve always been in favor of you having an assistant,” he said. He noted she lives in Brooklyn and will be moving to Westhampton.
But he said he wondered why Ms. Weber’s letter of interest was addressed to the mayor and community member Dane Neller.
He’s a member of the budget and finance committee and “helps me and volunteers his time,” Mr. Warren responded. He said he welcomes talented members of the community to come forward and offer assistance.
Switching gears, the mayor said, “This is an opportunity for us to come together. I certainly hope, and I say this to help bring us together, this is not a gesture to try to divide us,” he said. ”We really want to work together as a team, and I hope we can focus on the important issues at hand versus trying to drive a wedge into what we’re trying to do here. I don’t think that’s what you’re trying to do,” he said.
“Mr. Mayor, I’m very focused on the meeting. I’m very focused on what we need to do. I’m not asking the question to try and drive a wedge,” Mr. Pilaro said. “I’m just focused on trying to understand, because I think there are a lot of people, especially the residents who want to understand. If they know someone that they’ll send a letter to them and to you and I want to make sure there is a process that we have for looking at and seeking out qualified individuals in the village working for us. That’s all.”
Mr. Pilaro said he wanted to understand the process the village has for seeking out qualified candidates and is all for the mayor having an assistant. He asked if Ms. Weber was qualified and has municipal experience or “is the learning curve going to be great?”
“I’m simply asking questions for the residents’ knowledge, that is all,” he said
The mayor said he could post Ms. Weber’s resume on the village website. She studied government “in a really good university,” the mayor said. He noted he tried to hire others in the past and, speaking of the new board, he said, “I’m hoping the days of not ratifying appointments are over.”
Making reference to the abrupt firing of Ms. Fitzgerald in July, whose termination shocked community members and whose position has been vacant since, Mr. Pilaro asked, “Are the days of firing people before we have a replacement over?
“We’d like to work together here and that comment was really out of place,” board member Gina Arresta interjected. “If you look at her resume and took the time to speak to her, you could see she’s a self-starter and she’s a go-getter and I think we should give her a chance. If Jesse’s comfortable with her hiring, I think we should support.”
“I’m all for her,” Mr. Pilaro asserted. “I just want to make sure the public understands.”
He noted that in business, “you don’t usually put yourself behind the eight ball,” as happened by firing the previous assistant without a replacement.
“Maybe we should not talk about personnel problems in a public forum,” Ms. Arresta said. “Every mayor that comes in brings in their own assistant, and this mayor has every right to hire his own assistant.”
Mr. Pilaro agreed.
“We all are trying to work together here,” the mayor said. “Obviously, a lot has happened over the last 14,15 months. We all care about the village, we have now gone through a global pandemic and we have gone through some changes, and I will tell this board right now that everything that has happened, everything that has been done to me is water under the bridge.”
“We’re seeing that in our country, in states, people are not working together and something has to give and I will give,” Mr. Warren added. “And I will tell you, anything that has happened in the past to me, it doesn’t matter anymore. Everybody has a clean and fresh slate. I hope moving forward we will let the past go.”
