Vegliante Honored at Final West Hampton Dunes Meeting, as Krasnow Assumes Mayor's Post

Gary Vegliante wielded the gavel of a West Hampton Dunes Village Board meeting for the last time on Friday evening, June 28 — concluding more than 30 years as mayor of the village he helped to found and shape over the decades into a haven for those thirsting for towering homes at the water’s edge.

In it’s last day of business under Vegliante, who last week lost his bid for reelection to a ninth term as the village’s mayor to Irwin Krasnow, the Village Board voted unanimously to commemorate the village’s first mayor and longtime majordomo with a bronze plaque at the village line, and to rename the Village Constabulary’s headquarters in his honor.

“Almost 40 years ago, the story of West Hampton Dunes began when the ocean cut Dune Road in half,” Trustee Michael Craig, who also lost reelection, said to the small crowd gathered for Vegliante’s farewell. “Many lost their homes and all hope. But a small group, led by Gary Vegliante … led the fight to get their homes and lives back. It would become the modern-day version of David and Goliath.”

Vegliante, Craig said, left his young family at their other home in Port Jefferson for days at a time to oversee the battles to save and recreate the small beach community.

“You’ve dedicated your life to the service of others,” he said. “You’ve always tried to help the members of your community, and that is your legacy.”

Supporters and longtime residents shared stories and recollections of the early days of the village’s creation and the names of those who played important roles in its creation and operation.

Attorney Joe Prokop, who had helped Vegliante marshal the incorporation of the village and mount the legal battle with Suffolk County, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state that ultimately forced them to rebuild and maintain the village’s oceanfront, recalled the many battles.

“People don’t realize that when things got going, people tried to get rid of us,” Prokop said. “One after another, we had different agencies try to get rid of the village. I think they thought it was all going to blow up and would go away. But it’s still here.”

Vegliante, Craig and Trustee Harvey Gessin each lost their reelection bid in the June 21 vote, which was swept by the three candidates of the Clean Slate Party.

The race had been marked by questions about Vegliante’s eligibility to continue serving as mayor, since he does not own a home in the village, and by big-money real estate development projects in the village that Gessin and Craig, and Vegliante’s wife, Claire, had profited from.

But on Friday night, the sentiments were all of that of gratitude to Vegliante for his efforts to create the village and lead it from breach to boomtown.

“It’s been a wonderful journey,” Vegliante said, fighting back tears at times. “I couldn’t have been more blessed, and I thank you all. The ups and downs don’t matter. I’m a blessed man because of this community.”

Krasnow, who was sworn into office on Monday morning, July 1, himself offered thanks to Vegliante for his dedication.

“I was very fortunate to be able to move to this community seven years ago — and I couldn’t have come here without what you did for this community,” Krasnow said on Friday evening. “I hope I can carry the mantle from where you left off and keep this community as wonderful as you made it. I hope I can live up to the legacy you left us. I thank you very much, Gary.”

During the recent campaign, Krasnow and his running mates had been harshly critical of Vegliante and other board members — Craig and Gessin, primarily — for what they saw as a government that had begun to function mostly for the benefit of its members.

Vegliante had lamented the financial misfortune that led to the home he and his wife had owned being foreclosed on 2018. In 2020, he sold a vacant lot he owned — to Gessin — leading to the questions about his legal residency in the village.

He had maintained that he had either had a legal residence by virtue of a lease from someone else or an “intention to return” to the village, which qualified him to serve. But after decades of nearly undying support from residents, voters in an evolving village — dozens changed their registration to village addresses this year — finally looked beyond the past.

In one of his first orders of business on Monday morning, Krasnow took steps that he said the previous board had never followed through on. He empaneled an Ethics Board and issued an order that all Village Board members would have to submit financial disclosure forms detailing any and all financial or business interests they have within the village, and will have to do so annually going forward. It was something the previous board had put on the books but never put into effect, he said.

“In 2013, the village passed a law that said they would have an Ethics Board and that every trustee fill out a financial disclosure form — it’s supposed to be done within 30 days. But this law has never been enforced in the last 11 years,” he said at the village’s organizational meeting on Monday. “I thought it was important with my administration to put the Ethics Board in place. So, within 30 days, we’ll put the board in place and we’ll be filing those disclosures.”

The board appointed five residents — Mary Jane O’Connell, Lisa Jacobs, Richard White, Catherine Vaczy and Caterine Woolfson — to the board.

In the brief bit of business the board conducted on Monday, members appointed Jared Kasschau to be the village attorney, replacing Joe Prokop, who had been the village’s attorney since Vegliante and others began the push to incorporate in 1992.

Kasschau has previously served as the attorney for the Village of Tuxedo Park and as the Nassau County attorney. He worked on Krasnow’s campaign and represented the Clean Slate Party candidates during the election night vote counting.

The new mayor did not appoint a new village treasurer — but also did not reappoint Claire Vegliante, who earned $37,609 last year for the part-time roll.

Krasnow also did not make any immediate changes to the mayor’s salary schedule in the village budget — something he pledged to do in the wake of his election. Vegliante earned a base salary of $109,365 as mayor, plus an additional $17,300 as the police commissioner for the village, a role that Krasnow assumed on Monday.

Krasnow, a successful commercial real estate developer, said last week that he would be substantially reducing the mayor’s compensation package, but he first needed to examine village finances in more detail before making changes.

Krasnow also said he is considering having the village hire a licensed architect to help oversee the application process for construction projects that may require review by the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals, as a support system for busy Building Inspector John McAlary.