Letters

Last week, the mayor released to The Southampton Press a privileged and confidential letter of claim made against the village and the mayor by his former assistant, Miranda Weber [“Former Secretary to Southampton Village Mayor Alleges Discrimination, Harassment, Unpaid Overtime,” 27east.com, April 12]. The letter contains extremely serious allegations against the mayor, including sexual harassment, creating a hostile environment toward female employees, and violating federal wage and hour laws.

The defense of such claims requires involvement by several law firms and coordination with the village’s insurance carrier in order to protect the interests of all parties — most importantly, the village’s taxpayers.

The mayor took this action despite clear written legal counsel advising against such public disclosure. In doing so, the mayor may have harmed the village’s ability to defend both itself and the mayor himself.

The mayor’s actions have placed the other members of the Board of Trustees between the proverbial rock and a hard place. If the board speaks out about the mayor’s actions, he accuses us of making a political attack on him. On the other hand, if we maintain the confidentiality of issues that come before us that should properly be kept confidential, he accuses the board of a lack of transparency.

That the mayor should somehow blame the board for the negative consequences of his alleged actions is, frankly, astonishing. I repeat my strong assertion that this board had nothing to do with the issuance or timing of Ms. Weber’s complaint. 

I take absolutely no pleasure in having to call the mayor to task. But village labor counsel Vince Toomey has advised the board that the mayor’s making Ms. Weber’s complaint public was a very serious misstep.

The board is in process of determining exactly how to handle the new complications that the mayor’s disclosure of privileged and confidential information has created. When we receive full clarification on these matters from the village’s legal counsel, we will provide the residents with as much information as we can.

Until then, as always, we will continue to do our best to protect our village residents’ interests.

Roy Stevenson

Trustee

Southampton Village