Bragman Drops Legal Representation Before East Hampton Town Before Taking Seat On Town Board

East Hampton Town Councilman-elect Jeffrey Bragman, an attorney with a practice in East Hampton, has started to transfer the legal business he had pending before the town’s regulatory boards to other attorneys in anticipation of taking his seat in January.

Mr. Bragman said this week that he had always intended to withdraw from his business with the town by January 1 but has done so sooner because he was informed that three members of the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals would have to recuse themselves from any hearings at which he was scheduled to participate, to avoid any appearance of impropriety or conflict of interest.

Mr. Bragman would not identify the board members he was told had intended to recuse themselves from his cases. But two ZBA members, John Whelan and Cathy Rogers, the board’s chairman and vice chair, are believed to be on the short list of candidates being considered for appointment to the Town Board to fill the council seat that will become vacant when Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc takes over as supervisor on January 1. Both would also be eligible for reappointment to their chairmanships at the start of the new year if they remain on the board, though neither is up for reappointment to a seat on the board.

Once sworn in to his council seat, Mr. Bragman would be one of the board members who will be voting on both the council seat appointment—which Mr. Van Scoyoc said is expected to be made at the board’s first meeting, on January 2—as well as designating the chairmanships of the various regulatory boards. He also will be sitting in on the interviews with candidates for the council appointment and the three incumbents prior to taking office.

A third member of the ZBA, David Lys, is at the end of his current five-year appointment to the board and will be up for reappointment on January 2, which Mr. Bragman also would be casting a vote on.

Ms. Rogers said that she would recuse herself if Mr. Bragman came before the board because of her eligibility for reappointment to her chairmanship. She said she was not aware of whether or not she is being considered for the council seat appointment.

Mr. Whelan declined to comment, and Mr. Lys could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Bragman was involved in two applications before the ZBA. One is an application by George and Anastasia Gavalas asking for 10 variances from wetlands setbacks to allow the expansion of their house on Marine Boulevard in Amagansett. He is also representing a group of neighbors opposing an application by Safe Harbor Retreat LLC, which runs the Dunes addiction treatment center at a house in Northwest Woods, to have the facility legalized as a semi-public facility even though it is in a residential zone.

Both cases had their most recent scheduled hearings before the board postponed, so none of the board members actually had to recuse themselves, though Mr. Whelan had recused himself from the Safe Harbor application last year because a family member is involved with the case.

“I was planning to get rid of everything I had pending in the town before January 1, on the theory that I don’t really have any effectiveness until January 1, so I thought I could resolve some stuff,” Mr. Bragman said. “But I don’t want to create a conflict issue. It’s wrong for the town and wrong for my clients, and with three board members recusing, we wouldn’t have a quorum. So, I’m off both cases.”

Mr. Bragman also represents a group of Wainscott residents who sued the Town Planning Board over the approval of a bowling alley and sports bar currently being constructed at East Hampton Indoor Tennis. The suit was dismissed in court, but Mr. Bragman has filed a notice of appeal of the case, though the appeal itself has not yet been filed. He said he would have to remove himself from any future actions in that case as well.

Mr. Bragman said he could not identify the attorneys who will take over his cases, since his clients have yet to give their okay.

In recent years, Mr. Bragman’s law practice has largely specialized in representing opponents to development applications before regulatory boards in both Southampton and East Hampton towns and the incorporated villages. While serving on the Town Board, Mr. Bragman said, he will decline to take on any clients who would be appearing before any of the town’s regulatory boards. He said that he will still be able to represent cases before East Hampton Village’s boards and those of other towns.

“It’s just something that I’m going to have to live with,” he said. “I knew I was going to have to give up cases before East Hampton Town, but there will be work I can do.”

Mr. Bragman has recently represented opponents of The Hills golf course and housing development proposed in East Quogue and of The Gateway commercial development in Bridgehampton, and opponents of two applications before the Southampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals.