Southampton Village Trustee Says He's Being Denied Access To Resumes He Needs To See To Do His Job Effectively

Southampton Village Trustee Joseph McLoughlin says he is being denied access to documents and information that he is entitled to, which he says infringes on his rights as an elected official and hampers his ability to do his job.

Specifically, McLoughlin is seeking to review the resumes of applicants for chief of the Southampton Village Police Department. He’s asked both the village administrator and the village attorney and said he’s been told that the resumes are in the possession of the village’s Police Chief Search Committee, and that he may not access them, because releasing the records would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

While the Freedom of Information Law allows villages to withhold certain documents from the public for that reason, McLoughlin insists that as a village trustee who will ultimately be voting on who to hire as the next police chief, the privacy provision does not apply to him.

“I’m being denied information to effectively do my job,” he said.

Mayor Jesse Warren said on Friday that he does not have access to the resumes either, and that McLoughlin should respect the process that he votes for.

“When they are ready, they will bring us into executive session and bring the findings of their work,” the mayor said of the committee.

McLoughlin emphasized during an interview on Friday that he is not bashing the search committee, and is in favor of having such a committee, but said that the committee should not be a forum used to hide information. The committee shouldn’t have more jurisdiction than a trustee, he said. “Their authority was granted by me and my fellow board members,” he said.

He said he also learned that representatives of LS Clark Human Resources, which the Village Board recently hired to write a village employee handbook, were sitting in on interviews the committee is conducting with chief candidates. He questioned why that was when there hasn’t been a Village Board resolution hiring the firm to do that work.

“You know government: You live and die by resolutions,” he said. “That’s the law.”

McLoughlin said Warren accused him behind closed doors of not being a team player. “How can I be a team player if I’m not being given information?” McLoughlin asked.

He and Warren have been on the outs since disagreeing over the handling of the contract for the former police chief, Tom Cummings, in April. “There’s no room for differences of opinion in Village Hall at this time,” McLoughlin said.

McLoughlin had refused to vote to cancel the chief’s contract. He said on Friday that it was a negotiating tool that would set a bad precedent and also end in a lawsuit. He said he was accused of costing the village $200,000, but he believes the village would have spent that much and more in litigation if the Village Board canceled the contract.

He said he was also accused by the mayor of running a now-defunct anonymous Instagram account that posted rumors and opinions about village matters and was adamantly anti-Warren. McLoughlin said he did not run the account nor does he know who did.

The divisiveness in Village Hall is unfortunate, McLoughlin said. “We all want to do the best we can for the village.”

He was also concerned about the relationship between the village administration and the police department. “The division between the police department and Village Hall has to heal,” he said. “We need a police department. They serve the community. We need to have a peaceful co-working relationship.”