An Ethical Lapse

It happened in the midst of a busy election, but Southampton Village residents shouldn’t miss the significance of the recent story about machinations by members of the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals. Last week, ZBA member Kevin Guidera, a 36-year member of the board, called for three of his colleagues to resign in the wake of the revelations, and while that’s a startling development, it’s not an overreaction.

Regulatory boards on the South Fork have immense responsibility, since they often issue rulings that mean millions of dollars in value to some properties, plus and minus. They also have an enormous effect on the way neighborhoods develop. In Southampton Village, they hold the future of the village in their hands at least as firmly as the Village Board.

For members of a regulatory board to seek out an application so that they may issue a ruling — and be aided in the process by the mayor and at least two trustees, the evidence shows — is a betrayal of their role as arbiters. It’s also shifty and underhanded, and it casts a shadow on the ZBA that won’t be easy to get out from under. Meanwhile, several key members of village government never responded to legal requests for records related to the mini-conspiracy, which suggests both disrespect for the law — and that there might be more here yet to uncover.

Pay attention, village residents: This incident demands it.