Southampton Village Hires Powers as New Attorney

Last month, at a Southampton Village Board of Trustees meeting, Mayor Bill Manger appointed Eileen Powers as the village’s new attorney, at an hourly rate of $100 per hour, not to exceed $155,000 annually, effective October 14, hopefully ending what has been a revolving door when it comes to the attorney position in Southampton Village.

Powers replaces Sarah E. Simpson, who was hired as a full-time in-house attorney in early August, and then tendered her resignation just one day into the job so she could accept a job offer from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, a state public benefit corporation. According to Manger, Simpson had been interested in that job for some time, but had not heard back about hiring, which is why she took the position with the village. Just days after taking the job with the village, she was offered the position with NYSERDA, and decided to take it, sending the village on the hunt for a new attorney once again.

Powers brings a wealth of experience to the job, having worked in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office earlier in her career in the 1990s, before serving as Southampton Town Attorney from July 2002 through July 2005. She also has experience serving as attorney in Belle Terre Village, and as Southold Town Justice, as well as in private practice based in Riverhead.

Legal matters — namely legal costs that repeatedly went well over budget — have been at the forefront of community attention in Southampton Village in recent months.

Simpson was hired at a salary of $155,000. Making the role of village attorney a full-time salaried position was a recommendation of the village’s Finance Committee as a way to cut down on contracted legal expenditures. The village repeatedly went over budget when it came to legal expenses over the last year, and it became a contentious issue under the previous administration of Mayor Jesse Warren.

Since 2021, the law firm of Bee Ready Fishbein Hatter & Donovan LLC, based in Mineola, has provided village attorney services to the village, with Andrew Preston, a partner at the firm, present at Village Board meetings over the last few months.

The Finance Committee found that hiring a salaried attorney, rather than contracting with a firm at an hourly rate, could prevent legal expenses from getting out of hand. While the new attorney, Powers, is being paid an hourly rate, her contract stipulates that her annual compensation will not exceed $155,000.

In January, the board had to increase the village’s 2022-2023 budget for legal expenses by $250,000 after it blew well past the original budgeted amount of $225,000 — by $138,685 — with four months still to go in the fiscal year. Legal expenses include not only the village attorney but also attorneys for land use boards, the Ethics Board, labor issues and litigation.