Letters

The Southampton Press recently highlighted Southampton Village’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, which took effect on May 16 [“Gas-Powered Leaf Blower Ban Takes Effect in Southampton Village on May 16,” 27east.com, May 14]. This regulation was put on the books by Bill Manger’s predecessors, but now it is Manger’s responsibility to enforce it.

If this first weekend was any indication of how enforcement is going to go, Manger is doing a terrible job, as gas-powered leaf blowers were rampant and showed no signs of curtailment.

Village residents should not be surprised, given this administration’s lawlessness.

The village is lax in its compliance to Freedom of Information Law requests, with nearly 100 outstanding requests. The administration also repeatedly violates the Open Meetings Law by conducting secret meetings.

The village appears to have violated New York State Civil Service laws concerning the employment of Village Administrator Anthony Carter. Carter collects a $215,000 salary in addition to a $120,000 pension, totaling $335,000 annually.

At the May 9 Southampton Village Board meeting, the mayor and Gina Arresta yelled at me because I criticized the fact that they passed a proposal at the April 23 meeting that was a modification of the highly maligned April 11 proposal. The April 23rd proposal was never subject to public comment as is required by law. The mayor said I was being “absolutely false” and “misleading.” I would suggest that it is the mayor who is being false and misleading, and uncivil and disrespectful.

Also note that the modification was concocted in secret, in clear violation of the Open Meetings Law.

In light of these enforcement and legal compliance failures, why not reassign Carter, who has no financial, treasury or clerk experience, to getting out on the streets and enforcing the gas-powered leaf blower ban, given that “law enforcement” experience is the only experience he actually has?

While he’s largely incapable of creating a budget or even reading and pronouncing resolutions correctly, he might be more competent at leaf blower enforcement. A reassignment would better serve the community, and at least taxpayers would get an iota of value back from his $335,000 of compensation.

David Rung

Southampton Village