Quogue appoints Sartorius as new mayor

The Quogue Village Board appointed Trustee Peter Sartorius as the village’s new mayor on Friday afternoon.

Mr. Sartorius was sworn in by Deputy Mayor Randy Cardo immediately after the board approved his appointment. After Mr. Sartorius was voted in, fellow Trustee Kimberley Payne congratulated Mr. Sartorius and said that although he had also been vying for the position, the board would remain united.

“We’re going to work together for the good of the village,” Mr. Payne told the dozen village residents in attendance.

Mr. Sartorius, a full-time village resident, was appointed to the Village Board in March 2008 to fill the vacancy left when Trustee William Hines died. After serving the remainder of Mr. Hines’s term, Mr. Sartorius was elected to a two-year term this past June, at which time he ran unopposed.

The village has been without a mayor since October 16, when then-Mayor George Motz resigned after pleading guilty to securities fraud, a felony, in federal court days earlier for his role in a “cherry picking” scheme that illegally pocketed some $2.2 million for his Manhattan investment firm, according to authorities.

Mr. Motz’s sentencing is scheduled for January 29. He faces up to 25 years in prison.

Mr. Sartorius will serve the remainder of Mr. Motz’s term, which expires on June 30, 2010.

On Friday, Mr. Sartorius said he anticipates that the Village Board will appoint someone to fill the trustee seat he will be vacating during the next meeting on Friday, December 18. Village law states that whoever fills Mr. Sartorius’s seat must seek election as soon as possible, or June 2010. Whoever is appointed will not be allowed to complete Mr. Sartorius’s unfinished two-year term.

An attorney by trade, Mr. Sartorius was a partner at Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, a Philadelphia law firm with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, until he retired in 2006. His legal practice consisted of general corporate matters such as finance, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate.

Mr. Sartorius is currently a director and treasurer of the Quogue Beach Club and president of the Laurel Links Country Club. He is also president of the Quogue Association.

At Friday’s meeting, the village board also discussed the damage sustained by Quogue’s beaches during a nor’easter on November 12. Mr. Sartorius said the walkways and stairs at Quogue Village Beach had been badly damaged, forcing to village to cordon them off. He also said the village had begun replenishing sand near the base of the pavilion at the beach after the storm scoured it away, leaving the southernmost deck suspended in midair.

The board also approved a transfer of $100,000 from the village’s general fund to go toward the renovation of the former Mary Payne Home Store on Jessup Avenue, which the village is turning into the Quogue Historical Society Museum. Construction began in March 2008.

At Friday’s meeting, Mr. Sartorius said the renovation was progressing slower than expected. The board needed to allocate the additional $100,000 to ensure that openings in the building were closed up by winter, he said.

Originally, the village allocated $50,000 for the project in its 2009-10 budget, on top of $50,000 already allocated in its 2008-09 budget. The property was purchased with $445,000 in Community Preservation Fund money from Southampton Town, and the Quogue Police Benevolent Association and Quogue Association donated $10,000 apiece toward construction, renovation and beautification costs.