New Member of Law Firm To Advise Southampton Village

There was a new face at the Southampton Village Board meeting on October 13.

Andrew Preston has replaced Ken Gray as the attorney for the village and was in attendance, in person, at the October 13 meeting. Both Gray and Preston are attorneys with Bee Ready Law, a Mineola-based law firm that was appointed the official village attorney at the board’s organizational meeting earlier this year. The firm is responsible for assigning an attorney to attend Village Board meetings.

Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren said that Gray had been put in different assignments by the firm, where he is still employed. Warren said there were no other reasons why Gray was taken out of that role.

Gray did not respond to requests for comment.

Preston returned a call on Monday but declined to comment about the situation. He also declined to comment on whether Gray had asked to stop taking the lead for the firm with the village or had been reassigned by his firm, saying he did not have the authority to do so.

Preston will now be the primary point of contact from Bee Ready for Southampton Village. He said he would aim to attend some of the meetings in person, while attending via Zoom for others. Gray participated exclusively via Zoom for the past several months.

Preston becomes the fourth lawyer to serve as legal counsel for Southampton Village in Warren’s three-year tenure as mayor. Wayne Bruyn was the attorney when Warren took office in 2019, and then Brian Egan took over in February 2020. Egan resigned in February 2021, which led to Bee Ready’s appointment.