Complaint against Northport Village trustee remains privileged, despite requests for transparency

At the June 20 Northport Village Board of Trustees meeting, the board entered into executive session to discuss a personnel matter, before moving on with public participation, commissioner reports and resolutions. Although the public is not privy to issues addressed during these sessions, the board was prepared with a collective – and silent – response to a question that arose shortly after its return to the public meeting.

When asked by resident Blair Beaudet during public participation whether or not the board would be addressing a letter to the editor and article published in The Observer over the last two weeks regarding a formal complaint made against Trustee Joe Sabia by an employee of the Highway Department, Mayor Donna Koch said, “There’s nothing to address.”

“It’s a personnel matter, and an attorney-client privileged document,” explained Northport Village Attorney Edward Gathman.

Beaudet asked if the public would ever know why Sabia, who did not comment and remained head down for the duration of this exchange, was charged by a Village employee. Mayor Koch answered, “No.”

“Is that transparency?” Beaudet asked.

The mayor’s answer remained the same: the outcome is protected by attorney-client privilege.

That attorney, Steven Stern, was hired on March 22 by the Northport Village board during an executive session after a complaint was filed against Trustee Sabia by Highway Department mechanic Joe Cavagnaro. While the details of the three-page complaint remain confidential, an article in The Observer suggests that Sabia, the highway commissioner, has “harassed and badgered” Cavagnaro, an employee of the Village for 27 years, creating a hostile work environment at the Village garage on Woodside Avenue. The complaint was investigated and several Village employees deposed, including Sabia.

On June 8, The Observer published a letter to the editor from Sabia titled “Vindicated,” in which Sabia wrote, “I wanted to personally share the outcome of the personnel complaint that was filed against me. It was proved to be unfounded.” The investigation report that was submitted to the Village board, however, is confidential, privileged information not available for public access, even upon a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request.

One week later, Editor Dave Ambro disclosed information from Cavagnaro suggesting that Sabia’s behavior was deemed inappropriate by the report, not “unfounded,” as stated by Sabia in his letter. Because the Village does not have a formal code of conduct, however, and the complaint did not include a violation of any specific laws or regulations, it could not be labeled as workplace harassment.

In this case, Sabia has appeared to overstep the boundaries of his role as trustee by submitting a letter to a public paper claiming vindication, when the details of the report – including its resolution – were confidential and never made available to the public.

Correction: The original headline has been changed to reflect that a formal complaint was made against Trustee Joe Sabia. The complaint was never part of a lawsuit.