Impartiality Needed

When four out of five members of a village board have a clear conflict of interest on a matter before them, that board should go to great lengths to stay out of it — it’s only common sense.

The Quogue Village Board found itself in this situation in recent months when the Quogue Club, a hotel and private members-only dining club, appealed to the village to allow outdoor dining, despite a ban that dates back to 1981. Four Quogue Village Board members — including Mayor Peter Sartorius — are members of the dining club, and each has a small but not insignificant ownership stake.

Rather than steering clear, the Quogue Village Board took a different tack: With only one abstention, the board members voted on May 21 to take purview over outdoor dining at the Quogue Club away from the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals and put it into their own conflicted hands. The board then immediately put this power grab into use by approving outdoor dining at the club — over the objections of the neighbors who will be most affected — on a trial basis.

Quogue Club President Robert Treuhold was the Village Board member who abstained, while his fellow Quogue Club/Village Board members Mayor Sartorius, Randy Cardo and Ted Necarsulmer voted in the affirmative.

By doing so, they have increased their own enjoyment of their club memberships, as well as the monetary value of their stakes. It comes at the expense of the neighbors’ quiet enjoyment of their homes and their property values. It’s a clear-cut misuse of power.

Last year, the Zoning Board of Appeals had, most appropriately, exercised its power under a stipulation of settlement to allow outdoor dining at the club during the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate social distancing. That was a reasonable temporary accommodation in unprecedented times.

Now the club is seeking to make it permanent, and the Village Board has made the first step toward doing so. Which is a different matter altogether.

Rare is such a clear example of inappropriate conduct by elected officials. Voters should be appalled, and, at the very least, the results of the outdoor dining “trial period” should not be measured by the conflicted Village Board members. Impartiality is needed — and they don’t have it.