Letters

On Tuesday, January 24, I attended a Southampton Village Board meeting where the trustees again acted like peevish children, ruthlessly attacking the mayor when they should be working on the business issues of the village [“Acrimony Between Trustees and Warren Has Grown; Mayor Says Tensions Are Politically Motivated,” 27east.com, January 25].

Issues like an outlandish budget of $33 million, when Sag Harbor provides the same village services for $13 million. Issues like an arcane system of determining “assessed values” that forces residents of Windward Way, Dale Street, Willow Street and Breese Lane to pay three times, in relation to value, the taxes of the residents of Ox Pasture Road, Gin Lane, Coopers Neck Lane and First Neck Lane. Issues like requiring the Zoning Board of Appeals to set a deadline to render a decision on the Pyrrhus Concer House.

All this trustee nonsense is costing village taxpayers huge amounts in legal fees. This period, the village made a $250,000 budget transfer to cover excess attorneys’ fees. At the January 12 meeting, Trustee Gina Arresta hired an attorney to explain Anthony Carter’s compensation arrangement for police chief. The vote to hire had already been made. It was a done deal. This presentation was intended solely to embarrass the mayor and was a complete waste of taxpayer money.

And now there is the frivolous lawsuit filed by Charlene Kagel-Betts — a suit encouraged by the trustees [“Southampton Village Administrator Sues Mayor, Alleges Discrimination,” 27east.com, January 24]. How much will this cost taxpayers?

We need four new trustees. We need trustees who will act like adults, who will care about treating each resident fairly, and who will stop wasting taxpayer money.

David Rung

Southampton Village