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The Sag Harbor Village Board last week hired a new village attorney to replace Fred W. Thiele Jr., who resigned last month.
In executive session immediately following a meeting on Tuesday, May 10, the board appointed former Southampton Town Attorney and Southampton GOP Vice Chairman David J. Gilmartin Jr., who is a partner at Farrell Fritz in Water Mill.
“I plan to be a good lawyer for them,” Mr. Gilmartin said this week. “My firm brings a lot of experience with the people we have—not only in the Water Mill office, the people we have in our Hauppauge office.”
Mr. Gilmartin, who is a third-generation lawyer and was born and raised in Southampton, previously served as Southampton Town deputy attorney from 1996 to 2000, and he was subsequently named Southampton town attorney, a post he held until 2003. He has served on several municipal boards and also served as special assistant district attorney for Suffolk County.
“I have watched what has gone on in the village, and I think they are struggling, like most villages are, with the pressures of development—everybody wants to come out here because it is such a beautiful place—and trying to keep a close village atmosphere,” he said. “All the villages have struggled at one time or another with that, and Sag Harbor is currently going through that process.”
“We brought in multiple candidates, and it was kind of the opinion that, well, one, David Gilmartin, has a lot of experience with municipal law and practices at a law firm with a ton of experience with municipal law,” said Trustee Ken O’Donnell.
The board also hired Robert Connelly—who is Mr. Gilmartin’s colleague at Farrell Fritz—to be the counsel for the Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review. Mr. Connelly, who will be paid $250 per hour, has previously served as the assistant town attorney in East Hampton, and served on the Zoning Board of Appeals and Architectural Review Board there as well. He has also worked as an assistant district attorney in the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, where he was assigned to several bureaus, including the Economic Crimes Bureau.
“The feeling is that it will be a little more seamless with a firm where you are dealing with individuals that have offices down the hall with each other. Communication with the attorneys will be a lot better,” Mr. O’Donnell said. “In the litigious climate that we are currently in, the representation should be a little more seamless.”
At last week’s meeting, the board had been unprepared to grant property owners special permits to build large homes, as there was not yet a process in place or a village attorney to draft a procedure to follow. The granting of special permits is part of a new law that was adopted last month that limits the size of houses based on lot size.
Mayor Sandra Schroeder echoed that, and said it is likely the board will not be without an attorney again since both Mr. Gilmartin and Mr. Connelly work for Farrell Fritz and can cover for each other.
“If ever there is an issue, we know we won’t go without coverage, because there are so many who could just jump in,” she said. “All the attorneys all get together to meet with all of their issues to keep everybody up to speed. It is to our benefit, being the people that are hiring them.”
Mr. Gilmartin will be paid $52,500 per year, while Mr. Connelly will be paid on an hourly basis.
Alisha Steindecker on May 12, 2016