Southampton, NY|Local Classified|Announcement|
Southampton Village Trustees Facing Personal Jail Time & Fines Over Parkland Defiance
BREAKING LEGAL ALERT: Southampton Village Trustees Facing Personal Jail Time & Fines Over Parkland Defiance.
A major legal development has drastically escalated a bitter land-use dispute in the Village of Southampton, placing local politicians in personal legal jeopardy.
On Thursday, April 9, a Verified Petition for Civil Contempt was officially filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court (Index No. 608630/2026) targeting the Incorporated Village of Southampton. However, this filing represents a massive escalation because it explicitly names the individual members of the Board of Trustees, William Manger Jr., Leonard Zinnanti, Edward Simioni, Roy Stevenson, and Robert Coburn, as respondents.
The legal action formally asks the court to hold these municipal politicians individually guilty of civil contempt, which carries penalties of personal fines and/or imprisonment.
The Core of the Contempt Charge The crux of the contempt charge centers on the Board's actions during their March 12 public meeting. Prior to the meeting, the Board was officially served with a standing 2019 Supreme Court permanent injunction that strictly limits the use of Lola Prentice Park to educational and recreational purposes only.
Despite having that judicial mandate physically in hand, the Board proceeded to unanimously adopt a Home Rule resolution asking the State Legislature to alienate the parkland that very same evening. The Village’s ultimate goal is to convert the parkland to accommodate a massive centralized wastewater treatment plant.
By advancing this legislation, the petition alleges the Trustees knowingly violated a standing Supreme Court order.
Albany Legislation Frozen Furthermore, the plaintiffs have served this contempt petition to the State Legislative committee chairs in Albany, demanding they permanently freeze the Village's parkland alienation bills (S.9364 and A.10407). Because the State Legislature remains deadlocked over the state budget, these bills are currently trapped in committee. In the meantime, the local sponsors are now forced to defend themselves against personal contempt charges.
As the Village approaches a highly contentious April 18 public informational meeting regarding the sewer project, the broader Long Island community deserves to know that taxpayer funds, and the Trustees' own personal finances, are now on the line because the Board chose to openly defy a Supreme Court mandate.