Suit Accuses LI Mayor Of ‘Illegal Conduct,’ Age, Gender Discrimination

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren has been accused of "illegal conduct," including gender and age discrimination, as well as a hostile work environment, retaliation and slander by Southampton Village Administrator and Chief Financial Officer Charlene Kagel-Betts.

Kagel-Betts, 62, who was hired by the village in 2020, has worked in municipal finance for 28 years and previously served as the chief auditor for the Town of East Hampton, a Greenport Village treasurer, a former Southampton Town comptroller, Town of Riverhead deputy comptroller, and Brookhaven finance commissioner.

In the complaint, filed with the Suffolk County Supreme Court against Warren and the Village of Southampton on Jan. 23, Kagel-Betts said Warren assigned her duties to a new assistant to the mayor, a 27-year-old man, excluding her from meetings she was required to attend and communications she was required to receive to fulfill the duties of her position.

Warren said he could not comment on the complaint. Village Attorney Andrew Preston told Patch he could not comment on pending litigation.

As Southampton Village Administrator, Kagel-Betts’s responsibilities include administering Southampton Village’s services for residents; developing, implementing and managing an annual budget exceeding $33 million, addressing matters related to the village’s municipal bond ratings, and having supervisory management authority for most department heads and village employees, the suit said.

She has been recognized and honored by the National Government Finance Officers Association Award for excellence in financial reporting 13 times; she served on the New York State Government Finance Officers Association Board of Governors from 2004 to 2019; and served as President from 2014 to 2015. In 2017, Town of East Hampton Supervisor Larry Cantwell and the Town Board recognized Kagel-Betts with a proclamation for leading the town from the brink of bankruptcy to a AAA Moody’s bond rating, the suit said.

The complaint also outlines Warren's alleged history of gender-based discrimination and "hostile work environment," discussing "Secretary Doe," an aide to the mayor who was hired for a salary of $50,000; Kagel-Betts said Doe told her Warren had promised her a promotion to assistant to the mayor and a salary bump to $85,000. That never happened and Doe filed a complaint, the suit said.

While reviewing Doe's complaint, Kagel-Betts said Warren was "concerned" that Doe "was going to accuse him of something," the suit said. He then reportedly told her that he would give Doe a raise, but not the new title, the complaint added. Kagel-Betts said as part of her job, she was responsible for investigating human resources complaints and that she would be required to investigate any complaint by Doe about alleged improper conduct, the suit said.

Warren left the room, according to the complaint.

Doe, Kagel-Betts said, complained that Warren "belated and belitted her." He also, she said, "spoke to her by telephone for hours about minute details regarding what she was working on, the emails she was generating and other miscellanea, all of which obstructed her ability to work," the suit alleges.

In addition, "Warren recurrently called Secretary Doe after hours and on weekends demanding that she complete tasks on her personal time. Unbelievably, he called and texted Secretary Doe on Christmas Eve, while she was celebrating the holiday with her family in New York City," the suit stated.

Kagel-Betts said in several instances she found Doe in tears. When asked what was wrong, Kagel-Betts said Doe answered with one word, "Jesse."

Doe resigned and presented a spreadsheet indicating she was owed $80,000 in overtime; Warren denied saying she was eligible for overtime but told Kagel-Betts to offer a settlement of $9,000, the suit said.

The complaint also acccused Warren of using Kagel-Betts to "abuse and humiliate" another female employee, the Southampton Village clerk. The complaint alleges that Warren harassed the clerk, "sabotaging her work." Warren, the suit alleged, refused to sign a voucher to implement cashless online payments for beach permits, "again sabotaging" her work and "impeding implementation of an in-demand service for residents that was also intended to improve the village’s system of internal controls."

Deputy Mayor Gina Arresta signed the vouchers, the suit said. Warren, the suit alleged, learned during an interview with Anthony Carter, deputy commissioner for Suffolk police — Carter was interviewing for the new Southampton Village police chief position — that "Acting Police Chief Hurteau had disclosed ethically compromising conduct that the mayor had requested of her. Thereafter, the mayor told Mr. Carter, the soon-to-be appointed chief of police, to not promote Ms. Hurteau because she was 'untrustworthy,' a provably false and defamatory statement," the suit said.

In addition, the suit accused Warren of behaving "abusively" to female Southampton Village Trustees Gina Arresta and Robin Brown when they did not vote in accordance with his wishes, but did not treat the male trustees the same way.

When she was hired, Kagel-Betts said Warren tried to "low-ball" her with a salary less than her male predecessor but she refused to accept less, the suit said.

Warren, the suit maintains, spoke to Kagel-Betts in a tone that was "condescending" and "hostile" during one instance involving a resolution on the agenda.

The suit also accused Warren of "improper and discriminatory staffing actions that violate municipal and state law."

The suit accused Warren of "massively and systematically" retaliating against Kagel-Betts, exluding her from meetings and communications needed to perform her duties, and giving her duties to the new male assistant to the mayor. He also sent her "harassing emails," the suit said.

"The mayor’s increasing harassment . . . is documented in numerous demeaning emails, sometimes purporting to limit plaintiff’s authority, which will be presented to the court," the complaint said. "In sum, defendant Warren circumvented the village code by assigning the performance of Village Administrator Kagel-Betts’ chief-of-staff related duties to his 27-year-old male assistant and 'freezing her out' of her duties, in retaliation for confronting him, the complaint said.

More recently, Kagel-Betts, in her capacity as CFO of the village, "detected and reported improper conduct by the mayor that violates the village code of ethics," the compliant said. The suit accused Warren of wanting to hold a town hall meeting at the History Museum, "a vanity venue," instead of the village board room, directing that audio visual equipment be moved to the museum and back at a cost of $1,800. When Kagel-Betts told the independent contractor that the bill should be sent to the mayor's budget, as it falls under his budget and not the village's, the mayor asked that it be voided, the complaint said.

"In her capacity as chief financial officer, plaintiff brought the billing issue to the attention of the village trustees but not the mayor in an email. New Village Attorney Andrew Preston directed Ms. Kagel-Betts to resend the email, this time including the mayor as a recipient. Mr. Preston replaced longtime trusted Village Attorney Ken Gray, with whom the trustees (except the Mayor) were satisfied, at the believed direct request of the mayor to the managing partner of Gray’s law firm. Within minutes after receiving the copy of the email at a meeting of the trustees, Mayor Warren shot a text to Charles Certain, directing him to 'zero out,' void and withdraw the $1,800 invoice to the village, which Mr Certain refused to do. Mr. Certain showed the text to Village Administrator Kagel-Betts. It is believed that the mayor subsequently offered Sage Certain a $500 gift card from the mayor’s store, Tenet. Charles Certain commented that he preferred receiving payment 'to a cuff-link,'" the suit said.

The incident is violation of the village code of ethics and a violation of the village's procurement policy, the complaint said. The suit also accused Warren of offering "what appears to be a bribe to a village vendor."

He was also accused of making "defamatory statements . . .related to the process by which a three year contract was awarded to operate the Cooper’s Beach food concession," in regard to Kagel-Betts, the suit said. "As the mayor had previously acknowledged in a October 13, 2022 trustees meeting, the contract was awarded to the highest bidder . . .Significantly, before the time the mayor made the defamatory statements, the mayor knew that plaintiff had recused herself from any participation in the bidding process and the award of the contract."

Since there was no "impropriety related to the Cooper's Beach RFP," Warren's statements constituted slander, the suit said.

"On September 30, 2022 plaintiff filed a notice of claim with a complaint with the village board and respective village counsel. Since that time defendant Warren’s hostility, degradation, defamatory and discriminatory actions have continued with intensity against plaintiff in an attempt to further demonize, attack and demoralize her," the suit accuses.

Kagel-Betts seeks damages to be determined by a jury, the suit said.

A statement from Kagel released by her attorneys read: "Ms. Kagel-Betts knows that if she resigns from her position, Mayor Warren’s abusive, demoralizing, sexist and ageist tirades directed at her will cease. However, doing in so doing she would leave behind other employees who will continue to receive his abuse, as well as damaging her economically. It is believed that at least one female employee resigned her position because of Mayor Warren’s illegal harassment. So she filed this lawsuit to make residents aware of Mayor Warren’s illegal and unethical behaviors, and to show that one of his principal focuses is to carry out vendettas instead of carrying out his job, to constructively address the needs of Southampton Village’s residents and businesses."