Cantwell Wanted in on Police Chief, Head Building Inspector Hirings

The East Hampton Town Board promoted two people at its meeting on Thursday night — Captain Michael Sarlo was unanimously selected as the next police chief and Thomas M. Preiato was appointed Chief Building Inspector, with some resistance from the board's minority.

Both decisions were ones that the next East Hampton Town Supervisor, Larry Cantwell, would have liked the board to have held off on.

The board felt that it was important to appoint a new police chief to make for a smooth transition when Chief Ed Ecker retires at the end of the year, but that wasn't the case for the head of the building department.

Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, a Democrat, requested that the resolution regarding Preiato, who is currently the town's senior building inspector at the head of the department, be tabled until the 2014 budget discussions were completed. Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, also a Democrat, seconded that motion, but the motion failed. The resolution to appoint Preiato to the post was approved with the dissenters abstaining.

Cantwell, who is running unopposed for supervisor on the Democratic and Independence party lines and will take office in January, said he wondered why the board moved ahead to appoint these two key positions when current Police Chef Ed Ecker isn't retiring until Dec. 28 and there has been no chief building inspector since Don Sharkey died in 2009.

"I would have hoped that the board would have given me the courtesy of being included in the decision making process," Cantwell said with respect to the police chief. "It's easily a decision that could have waited," he said.

While he acknowledged that the board has the capacity to do as it pleases, he pointed out that at least two of the council members — Wilkinson and Deputy Supervisor Theresa Quigley, both of whom are Republicans — won't be in office come January, and a third Republican, Councilman Dominick Stanzione, could be unseated in the upcoming election.

Despite his feelings about the board moving forward, Cantwell said he was happy for Sarlo, whom he knows. "It's not a question of objecting to whose being appointed at all," he said. "I'm not at all saying Mike isn't the best choice . . . There's no reason to believe he won't be a great chief."

"If Larry Cantwell had an opponent we wouldn't be having these discussions," Wilkinson said. "The term ends 12-31-13. Larry comes in 1-1-14. That's when he can exert his influence."

He said the hiring of a new police chief in advance was "purely transitional."

Overby said Ecker asked that his successor be appointed ahead of time to allow for an easy transition, which she said was a reasonable request.

However, she said she understood Cantwell's frustrations. "I certainly think it could have been orchestrated a little differently than it was," she said.

The decision to appoint a chief building inspector was different, Overby and Van Scoyoc said.

"It was creating a new position," Overby said, adding that the position was eliminated nearly four years ago by the board majority.

The position is budgeted for in the supervisor's proposed 2014 budget at $75,000 per year. Since the budget has not been vetted yet, Van Scoyoc and Overby said they felt the board should hold off.

"I think it needed a public hearing before we approved it," Overby said. "If it 's such a very vital position the board majority should have filled it three years ago."

Wilkinson had a different take, saying that the appointment was an upgrade of an existing position. "I tried to explain that to these two board members ad nauseam."

Asked why Preiato was appointed now, Wilkinson said, There was an opening in the department which gave Tom the opportunity to bring in new blood into that department. As we bring in new blood, we also saw that it was the opportunity to give Tom the recognition that Pat Gunn has been trying to give him over the past two years."

Still, Preiato's appointment, like Sarlo's, is subject to satisfying all requirements under New York State Civil Service Law. "Tom Preiato is appointed provisionally and if Mr. Cantwell wants to replace Tom Preiato when he arrives he has the power to do that."